Belal Muhammad has vowed to beat Leon Edwards in their next fight.
Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC) will challenge Edwards (22-3, 1 NC) for the welterweight title in the main event of UFC 304. The two will meet again on July 27 at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England. The two first faced off at UFC Fight Night 187 in 2021, when the bout was ruled a no contest due to an accidental eye bump. Muhammad recently said he does not view Edwards as a threat and called him the easiest opponent out of his top five.
Muhammad prides himself on his pressure-first approach but doesn’t think it’s his only main strength. “Remember the Name” sees Edwards as the polar opposite of himself: easily beaten and mentally weak. Muhammad noted that “Rocky” looked totally demoralized before his shocking upset of Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 to win his first title. “I think he was really good at it,” Muhammad said on the “Show Me the Money” podcast.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in this world who can beat me. I don’t think there’s anyone who can match me. To be honest, I think he’s the easiest opponent for me, stylistically, in the top five,” Muhammad declared. “Because he’s easy to beat. I watched him against Usman, and my mentality is to beat my opponent… If you look at his corner, they never give advice like, ‘Take this jab,’ in the corner. It’s always like, ‘Beautiful Leon, go for it!’ They’re trying to motivate him because he’s mentally weak. And I’m the strongest fighter mentally in the UFC. So my mentality is to go in there and beat him. I’m in there with a different kind of anger now because I hate him.”
Muhammad and Edwards’ first bout of 2021 ended in a no-contest, the only blemish on either man’s recent record. Edwards earned his right to the title with a win over Nate Diaz and then defeated Usman in the final round to capture the crown. “Rocky” later lost the title to Usman by majority decision in a rematch before scoring a lopsided decision victory over Colby Covington.
Muhammad, meanwhile, has since reeled off five straight wins, all against fighters ranked in the top 15 or top 10 of his weight class. With a finishing rate of 26%, the Rufusport native has had one-sided wins over Demian Maia, Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque and Gilbert Burns, and he also handed then-unbeaten Shawn Brady his first career loss, pummeling the Pennsylvania native with a hail of punches late in the second round.
