Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz to fight at UFC 262 in historic non-title, five-round match on Michael Chandler vs Charles Oliveira card

Leon Edwards will take on Nate Diaz at UFC 262 on May 15, according to reports.
The fight will also have special significance as it will be the first five-round non-title co-main event in UFC history.

the card in Houston, Texas, already has the main event of Michael Chandler and Charles Olivieira for the recently vacated UFC lightweight title.

Tony Ferguson will be in action against Beneil Dariush, but Edwards vs Diaz is a huge showdown at welterweight.

Broadcaster Ariel Helwani, of ESPN, said Diaz had told him earlier this year that he wanted to face some top contenders in the welterweight division and now he has landed the number-three ranked fighter in Britain’s Edwards who is on an eight-fight win streak.

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UFC president Dana White had previously suggested he had a fight in the works for Diaz during fight week of UFC 257 in January. It’s hard to say if that was Edwards at the time, but it’s unlikely as he was scheduled to take on Khamzat Chimaev.

Once that fell through for the third time, Edwards faced Belal Muhammad on short notice, which unfortunately ended in the second round and ruled a no contest thanks to an eye poke from Edwards, but ‘Rocky’ was firmly in control at the time.

Muhammad demanded Edwards run the contest back, but the Birmingham resident insisted he wanted to get in position for a big fight and/or the UFC welterweight title.

Following Diaz’s interview with Helwani earlier this year, Edwards called out the Stockton-native.

“Nate just dribbled for an hour about wanting to fight at 170 against winners… let’s see it then @NateDiaz209. Eight-fight win streak and no.3 in the world. Let’s go if you still think you’re a real one.”

That prompted a typically amusing response from Diaz: “Who the f*** is this?”

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Diaz confirmed Helwani’s report shortly after the news broke, tweeting: “Check me out May 15th I’ll be headlining UFC 262  in Houston, Texas.

“It’ll also have the new UFC lightweight title fight on the card, I need people to know who these guys are, they’ve been working very hard and I can’t wait to see who gets my old [crown] I’ll see you guys there.”
Edwards, 29, is 22-3 in his MMA career and hasn’t lost since eating a decision to now-welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in 2015.
Still, the challenge of Diaz, a legend in the sport to many, represents his toughest test yet. His last fight was a loss to Jorge Masvidal for the BMF title in late 2019.