At UFC 303, welterweight strikers Ian Machado Garry and Michael ‘Venom’ Page will clash in a bout that will likely have heavy implications for the 170-pound weight class. 

Garry, still unbeaten in his career (7-0 UFC, 14-0 overall), has been clear in his plan to secure a title shot in the near future. The Dubliner had originally planned to take on former three-time title challenger Colby Covington at this month’s fight card in Las Vegas but will instead fight the former Bellator standout Michael ‘Venom’ Page — a fighter who is forging his own path to a championship bout.

And Leon Edwards, the UFC welterweight champion that is in both fighters’ crosshairs, has elaborated on who he thinks has the edge in the upcoming contest.

“I feel like it’s one of these fights where it’s like both guys will play in range and they’re like not committing, waiting to kind of punch each other,” Edwards told Sky Sports of the fight, as noted by MMA Junkie.

“If I had to put money on it, I’d probably favor ‘MVP.’ It’ll be a good fight. I’m interested to see how it plays out.”

Garry has been near-flawless in his UFC run to date. The former Cage Warriors champion has scored three knockout (or TKO) finishes in his seven UFC bouts up until now, and has only very rarely shown frailty — such as when he was dropped in his win against Song Kenan as well as in his most recent fight, a split decision win against Geoff Neal back in February.

Page, meanwhile, proved too much for Kevin Holland in his maiden UFC bout in March.

And as Edwards explained, he expects to meet one or both of these men in the cage down the line.

“If they both keep winning, 100 percent,” Edwards said of future fights with Garry or ‘MVP’. “For me, I only look at number one and number two. I think after that, it just gets too … like, just too much coming in. After I beat Belal, that’s how I look at it. I don’t look at number ten or 11 or nine yet. Until they start getting to that number five, I’ll be like, ‘OK, who’s this?’ Then I’ll start looking.”