Belal ‘Remember The Name’ Muhammad lived up to his word. He promised his fans that he would dethrone Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards at UFC 304. It turns out he absolutely did it. The Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England, witnessed the fall of one of their homeboys. The Palestinian-American fighter dominated the title bout and defeated Edwards via unanimous decision.
Interestingly, it was a rematch, as the first between Muhammad and Edwards was declared a no-contest due to an eye poke. The expectations for this fight were high. The hype was at par as both Muhammad and Edwards had several off-the-stage verbal altercations. The English fighter looked in perfect form in the last two bouts. However, Muhammad had other plans for the British champ.
Edwards landed most of the big shots during the fight in the first round. However, the story of the first round changed when Muhammad changed the levels and delivered two takedowns. The second and the third went pretty similar, with Muhammad controlling both rounds with his takedowns followed by grappling.
In one of those takedowns in the second round, Muhammad nearly broke Edwards’ neck with an inverted slam. The contender didn’t flinch from his strategy for the last two rounds and got an easy victory via unanimous decision. The fight happened around the early morning hours in Manchester. The crowd did not enjoy Muhammad winning as witnessed from the brawls in the arena.
Muhammad quieted all his doubters with a career-defining championship win. He won the wrestling, the striking, and the jiu-jitsu, pressuring Leon Edwards and limiting his space to operate. With this win, he became the first Palestinian world champion. Fight fans didn’t hold themselves and put out respect for the new welterweight champion.
Fight fans react to Belal Muhammad’s victory at UFC 304
The stakes were high as the main event was scheduled for the big welterweight clash. Belal Muhammad was coming off with victories over Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady. On the other hand, Leon Edwards was undefeated in his title reign where he hunted Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman. However, coming to this fight, Edwards was fighting in his backyard and was expected to deliver an astounding performance.
Belal Muhammad became the first Palestinian world champion at UFC 304 (via X)However, Belal Muhammad was ready to upset the home crowd. The MMA fans didn’t hold themselves back and showed respect for the new champion. Many praised his dominating game plans. Meanwhile, some lashed out at Edwards for putting out an awful performance in front of his home crowd. Check out some of the intriguing fan reactions below.
Palestine has a world champion Alhamdulillah 🇵🇸❤️
— – (@Hmz290) July 28, 2024
Leon’s awful performance tonight doesn’t warrant a title shot and it’s a damn shame because up until this point he had improved in a huuuge way fight by fight.
This was terrible. Shavkhat next. #UFC304
— Damien Bartonek (@tvBartonek) July 28, 2024
Belal is very good, I completely underestimated him. His wrestling and boxing are solid at that level
This is also what happens to Leon when he fights someone who gets the back when he turns around #ufc304
— Weasle (@ThaWeasle) July 28, 2024
A little too late or nah? Belal just lost 10 years of his life in that last minute but probably did enough to win
— MMA Gone Wild🥋 (@mmagonewild) July 28, 2024
The Palestinian-American fighter left no crumbs at beating his opponent. However, now it left for fans to see who would come out as the first title defense for Muhammad. A few weeks back, the former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman teased his wish to regain the title. Now, it remains to be seen how the UFC feels about this potential matchup.
