Belal
Muhammad has vowed to break Leon
Edwards in their upcoming clash.
Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC) will challenge Edwards (22-3, 1 NC) for the
welterweight title in the main event at
UFC 304. The two will run it back on July 27 at the Co-op Live
arena in Manchester, England. The two first met atop UFC Fight
Night 187 in 2021, resulting in a no contest after an accidental
eye poke. Muhammad recently downplayed Edwards as a threat,
labeling the champ the easiest matchup in the top five.
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While Muhammad prides himself on his pressure-first approach, he
believes this alone will not be his primary advantage. “Remember
the Name” considers Edwards easy to break and mentally weak, in
stark contrast with himself. Muhammad noted that “Rocky” appeared
to be completely dejected before pulling off a shock upset in his
first title win over Kamaru
Usman at UFC
278. Muhammad said on the “Show Me The Money” podcast:
“I don’t think there’s anybody in the world that’s gonna beat me. I
don’t think there’s anybody in the world that can be in there with
me. And if I’m being honest, I think he is the easiest guy in the
top five, stylistically for myself,” Muhammad declared. “Because he
is breakable. We’ve seen him in the Usman fight, and my mentality
is try to break you…If you see his corners, there’s never advice in
the corner like, ‘Oh, hit this jab.’ It’s always, ‘Bro beautiful
Leon, come on brother!’ They’re trying to give him motivation
because he is weak mentally. And I’m the strongest mentally fighter
in the UFC. So, my mentality is to walk in there and break him
down. I’m going in there with a different type of anger now because
I hate him so much.”
Muhammad and Edwards’ initial 2021 encounter ended in a no contest,
serving the only blemish on both of their recent records. Edwards
went on to earn a title shot with a win over Nate Diaz and
dethroned Usman in a last-round upset. “Rocky” has since defeated
his strap via majority decision in a rematch against Usman and then
picked up a one-sided decision over Colby
Covington.
Meanwhile, Muhammad has since strung together five straight
victories, all of whom serve in the top 15 or top 10 of the weight
class. While his finish rate sits at 26%, the Roufusport product
has prevailed over Demian Maia,
Stephen
Thompson, Vicente
Luque and Gilbert
Burns in lopsided manners. He also handed then-unbeaten
Sean
Brady his first career loss, pummeling the Pennsylvanian with a
hail of punches to put him away towards the end of the second
round.