Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad are finally fighting for the welterweight belt at UFC 304. However, according to Edwards, he has been trying to get in the octagon with Muhammad for a while now. The UFC champion revealed the story of how the UFC declined Belal Muhammad for UFC 300 in his latest interview.
Leon Edwards recently sat down for a conversation with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. During their discussion, Edwards brought up how he pitched Belal Muhammad for UFC 300 against him.
I’ve been trying to fight Belal now for a while. I got asked for 300, I said yes to everyone, three opponents. I even said, ‘What about Belal?’ And they were like, ‘No’…After those three said no, I said, ‘What about Belal?’ They didn’t even entertain it, so it is what it is.
Leon Edwards on the MMA Hour
Even Leon Edwards did not end up fighting at UFC 300. The MMA community remembers how secretive and uncertain the fight card was for UFC 300, especially the main event. The Edwards fight was brought to three other top contenders including Islam Makhachev for a champ vs. champ bout, Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Khamzat Chimaev. However, all three denied the fight.
Nonetheless, Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad are finally fighting again this June. Muhammad had pushed for a title fight against Edwards for a while now. They will headline the main event at UFC 304 at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England.
Edwards and Muhammad previously headlined a UFC Fight Night in 2021. That fight lasted two rounds before it was declared a no-contest. Muhammad has called out Leon Edwards on social media ever since.
Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards’s faceoff in 2021 (via DAZN)Ariel Helwani asked Edwards on ‘The MMA Hour’ if he was excited to face Muhammad at UFC 304. Edwards replied:
One hundred percent, the guy has been a nuisance on social media for the longest… He’s just talking. I’ll let him talk and let him make his little memes and his little tweets, but everyone knows he ain’t on my level. That’s just the facts of it.
Leon Edwards on the MMA Hour
Edwards said Muhammad might have improved since their last showdown but so has he. The UFC champion already has two title defenses under his belt. He said he was levels above Muhammad and this July he vowed to show everybody just that.
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