The issue between Joselyne Edwards and Ailin Perez has not yet been fully resolved.
Although Perez and Edwards shared a hug after their women’s bantamweight bout at UFC 302 in June, the two aren’t entirely on the same page. Edwards, who lost via unanimous decision, had a feud with Perez that included weeks of trash talk and stemmed from an altercation at the UFC Performance Institute.
All this bad history cannot be eliminated with a simple hug, at least according to La Pantera.
“She’s the one who asked for the hug. She can say whatever she wants, but it’s on camera,” Edwards told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “She asked about it and then told me that everything she did was just for show, that this was just for show, everything that happened outside the octagon, all that nonsense talk. So she said let’s play it cool and asked me if she could hug me and I said OK.
“Look, this is the fight game, we have to beat each other, but I don’t think you have to get along badly outside the octagon. However, things are different for her. Honestly, I can’t.” Never say, but I don’t think things will ever be good between us if I see her from a distance, but I don’t want to have any communication or friendship with her. I don’t like it , being around these people. She beat me in a decision, but that’s it. She has her life, I have mine, and I don’t want to know anything about this girl.
Edwards (13-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC) returns to the octagon at UFC Fight Night 245 on Saturday against Tamires Vidal (7-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC). The fight was originally scheduled for bantamweight, but Edwards missed weight by three pounds Friday morning.
Edwards is focused on Vidal, but she wants to get things back on track with Perez at some point. She knows she has a lot of work to do as Perez is on a winning streak and was recently added to the official UFC rankings, but she is confident that at some point she will be back in a position where the fight makes sense.
“One hundred percent,” Edwards said of his desire for a rematch with Perez. “Look, I’m concentrating on my stuff. I will win my fight and then the next one. I see she’s okay and I’m glad she’s okay because I want to fight her again.”
“For me it’s better that she wins all her fights, that she gets ranked, that people have her as a title contender because I’m after her. Of all the people I’ve lost to, the only one.” I want a rematch with her, I’m coming for her.
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For more information on the card, check out MMA Junkie’s UFC Fight Night 245 event hub.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC’s Joselyne Edwards wants to work her way to possible rematch with Ailin Perez: ‘I’m coming for her’