The third time was not the charm for the welterweight clash between Khamzat Chimaev and Leon Edwards.
On Thursday, UFC President Dana White confirmed to ESPN that Chimaev was forced to give up his scheduled fight against Edwards at the next event on March 13. According to White, Chimaev is still dealing with persistent problems after hiring COVID-19.
This is now the third attempt to schedule a fight between Chimaev and Edwards, and it looks like the promotion will now start from the clash.
The first time the fight took place last December, it was Edwards who was forced to give up after experiencing severe symptoms as a result of contracting the coronavirus. The fight was rescheduled for January, but then Chimaev was suffering from his own battle against COVID-19 and had to give up the rescheduled fight.
Unfortunately, it looks like Chimaev is still trying to recover and his return to action will have to wait until the end of 2021.
As for Edwards, White hopes to sign the British welterweight against a different opponent and potentially move him to a later date than the March 13 card.
Edwards is currently on a streak of eight consecutive victories in the division, but he has not competed in more than a year after the ongoing pandemic and his own fight with COVID-19 prevented him from competing in 2020.