Belal Muhammad recently detailed the part of the camp that turned the tide in his title fight against Leon Edwards.
Muhammad faced Edwards in the main event of UFC 304 in Manchester, England in July of this year, and “Remember the Name” Muhammad put in a dominant performance, completely dominating Edwards in almost every aspect of the fight to win by unanimous decision.
A big part of Muhammad’s victory was his ability to consistently press forward against Edwards, who is known for his ability to control the distance. And the new champion revealed that it hasn’t been easy. Muhammad claims he took thousands of body kicks while constantly moving forward during sparring sessions in preparation for the fight with Edwards. If he couldn’t do that, his coaches would always quickly remind him, and moving forward became the mantra.
“Leon, especially, has such good lateral movement… I thought I was never going to be within reach of that kick,” Muhammad said on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “I felt that body kick first, and I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to step forward.’ So even though I was in that mindset all through camp, I probably took 2,000, 3,000 body kicks and I stepped forward every time. And every time I took a step back, my coach yelled at me, ‘Look what you did here, this is wrong, move forward, move forward. You can’t take a step back.’ I wrote that down, I was thinking in my head: ‘Don’t take a step back, don’t take a step back.’ And that’s what happened in the fight.”
😳🦵Belal Muhammad talks about preparing for the fight against Leon Edwards.
“I probably kicked 2,000 or 3,000 times, and each time I moved forward. If I took a step back, the coach [was] They were yelling at me… I was determined not to take a step back.”
🎥 Joerogan
▫️ pic.twitter.com/gm3PhBHbkc
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight)
September 3, 2024
Muhammad has expressed interest in moving up to middleweight after a few title defences, citing a lack of fresh talent at welterweight. Unbeaten challenger Shavkat Rahmonov is confident of taking on Muhammad next, but the champion wants a bout between the Kazakhstan native and former champion Kamaru Usman for his title shot.
