In mixed martial arts, fighters generally receive at least one
warning — if not more — before a point is deducted for an eye
poke.
After being on the receiving end of such a foul against Leon
Edwards in the UFC Fight Night 187 headliner, Belal
Muhammad thinks more decisive action should be taken by
officials in those instances. Prior to the eye poke that rendered
Muhammad unable to continue 18 seconds into Round 2, Edwards was
warned for a similar violation in the opening stanza. Additionally,
Muhammad told
ESPN that he asked veteran referee Herb Dean to
keep on eye on Edwards’ fingers in the fight.
“We trained for this,” Muhammad said. “We know he likes to keep
distance and put his palm out. We literally told Herb Dean before
the fight, ‘We’re going to be trying to get in on him and he puts
his hands out, please watch his fingers.’
“Refs need to take a point right away, no warning. That will stop
guys from doing that. You saw it with Petr Yan‘s
illegal knee [at UFC 259], he got disqualified. You get penalized
like that, that’s going to stop guys from even thinking about that.
That finger, you take a point right away, that’s going to get
everybody afraid.”
Although Edwards won the first round against Muhammad, there was
still much to be decided in a potential five-round fight. After the
bout, the English welterweight balked at the notion of an immediate
rematch, pointing to his prior eight-fight winning streak as merit
enough for a 170-pound title shot.
The promotion announced the reigning champion Kamaru
Usman will face Jorge
Masvidal in a rematch at UFC 261 on April 24, so Edwards would
have to wait for that result at a minimum. And even then, the
promotion is unlikely to grant him a title shot with no victories
on his ledger since July 2019. That, Muhammad says, is why a
rematch makes perfect sense.
“Dana White put it out there, ‘If you beat Belal
Muhammad, you get a title shot,'” Muhammad said. “The title
shot is already booked right now, with Jorge Masvidal and Kamaru
Usman. Why wouldn’t you want to take this fight? If you think
you’re so much ahead of me, and you won the first round, and all
the other rounds are going to go the same way, OK. Come and get
this easy paycheck. Fight me, beat me and you’ll get a title shot
anyway.”