Belal
Muhammad recently detailed a part of camp that was a game
changer in his title fight with Leon
Edwards.
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Muhammad got his title shot against Edwards in the main event at
UFC
304 in Manchester, England, this past July. “Remember the Name”
put on a dominant display, completely outclassing Edwards in almost
all aspects to earn a unanimous decision win.
A big part of Muhammad’s win had to do with his consistent forward
pressure against Edwards, who is known for his ability to control
range. And the new champ revealed that it did not come to him
easily. Muhammad claims to have taken thousands of body kicks while
constantly moving forward during sparring in preparation for the
Edwards matchup. If he failed to do so, his coaches were always
quick to remind him, making him reach a point where moving forward
just became a mantra.
“Especially because Leon’s so good at lateral movement… So for me I
was like, I can’t be in kicking range at all,” Muhammad said on the
Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “I think I felt one body kick early
and I was like, ‘All right let me step forward on it.’ So even with
my mindset the whole camp, I probably took 2,000 to 3,000 body
kicks and then moved forward on each of them. And if I backed up at
all, my coaches yelled at me, ‘Look what you did here, you did this
wrong, move forward, move forward. We can’t take one step back.’ I
was writing it down, I was putting it in my head, ‘Do not take a
step back, do not take a step back.’ And then it just came out in
the fight.”
😳🦵Belal Muhammad talks about his preparation
to Leon Edwards fight.“I took probably about 2-3 thousand kicks and moved forward on each
of them. If I backed up at all my coach [was] yelling at me… I
was putting it in my head to not take a step back.”🎥 @joeroganhq
▫️ pic.twitter.com/gm3PhBHbkc— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight)
September 3, 2024
Muhammad has already expressed interest in moving up middleweight
after a couple of title defenses, citing a lack of fresh blood at
welterweight. While undefeated contender Shavkat
Rakhmonov is confident that he challenges Muhammad next, the
champ wants the Kazakh to fight former champ Kamaru
Usman in a title eliminator.