Masvidal out of Edwards fight due to injury, Chimaev wants to step in

Jorge Masvidal has withdrawn from his highly anticipated UFC 269 bout versus Leon Edwards due to an undisclosed injury, UFC executive Hunter Campbell told ESPN's Brett Okamoto.

Campbell didn't say whether Edwards will get a replacement opponent or if the promotion will look to reschedule the welterweight fight. It's unclear how long Masvidal might be on the shelf.

Rising star Khamzat Chimaev is a possible replacement candidate. He recently returned to the Octagon in style after over a year on the sidelines, submitting Jingliang Li in the first round of their Oct. 30 fight to move to 10-0.

Edwards and Chimaev were previously scheduled to fight three times - in December 2020 and in January and March of this year - but all the bouts were canceled due to COVID-19 issues.

Chimaev was quick to call out Edwards after news of Masvidal's withdrawal dropped.

However, the No. 3 welterweight indicated he won't remain on the final pay-per-view of the year against a new opponent.

Masvidal and Edwards were expected to finally tangle in the cage nearly three years after the former roughed up his counterpart backstage at a UFC Fight Night.

Edwards was expected to get the next shot at champion Kamaru Usman if he defeated Masvidal on the Dec. 11 card. The Englishman has won his last nine fights (excluding a no-contest for an eye poke), and Usman is the only combatant to beat him since 2015.

Masvidal is coming off two straight losses, both of them to Usman.

UFC 269 features a lightweight title fight between Dustin Poirier and champion Charles Oliveira as well as a women's bantamweight title bout between Julianna Pena and champion Amanda Nunes.