Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards sees himself as being back atop the welterweight summit by the end of next year.

Edwards, who held the UFC’s 170-pound championship for around two years beginning with his spectacular knockout of Kamaru Usman in August 2022, has been defeated just once in nine years — the problem for his is that sole loss came in the headline bout of the UFC 304 card in Manchester, England this past summer and saw him surrender the world title to current champion Belal Muhammad.

But now several months removed from that disappointment, the Birmingham native is focused on joining that very short list of two-time UFC welterweight champions; a goal he says he wants to achieve before next year is out.

“My goal right now is to get the belt back,” Edwards said in a promotional spot for MyProtein, as noted by MMA Fighting. “I’d like to be champion by the end of next year — around this time next year, so I’m just putting steps in place.”

For Edwards, those specific steps remain unclear. The identity of the next title challenger at 170 will be dictated by next month’s title eliminator bout between Ian Machado Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov, while the likes of Usman, Sean Brady and Jack Della Maddalena are also hovering around the title contention spots in the UFC rankings.

But if and when that next pivotal bout comes, Edwards is keen to erase the feeling of defeat from the Muhammad bout in July.

“I haven’t lost a fight in like nine years,” he said. “It’s getting used to that feeling again, but I feel like I hate losing more than I love winning. There’s not much you can do now, you know, just move on from that and put it behind you.