UFC Welterweight Champion Belal Muhammad believes the memory of his dominance over Leon Edwards will play a part in this weekend’s main event.
Edwards is set to return to action on Saturday for the first time since losing his grip on the 170-pound gold last July. “Rocky” was comfortably beaten by Muhammad across five rounds in the UFC 304 headliner.
In his pursuit of a second title reign, Edwards will share the Octagon with another grappler in the rising Sean Brady inside The O2 in London on March 22.
Edwards anticipates a victory earning him a shot at regaining the welterweight title. The man who took it from him, however, doesn’t foresee a victory on home soil for the Brit.
In a recent social media post, Muhammad reacted to Edwards’ continuing claim that injuries and a struggle to adapt to the 5 AM fight time impacted his performance last summer.
“Remember the Name” pointed to such remarks as evidence that his longtime rival is “weak mentally,” and predicted that the memory of UFC 304 will ultimately hamper Edwards when he makes the walk in a few days’ time.
“This guys full of excuses that’s why Brady will beat him,” Muhammad wrote on X. “I predict once Brady gets him down two or three times he’ll find a submission…because Leon’s weak mentally and he’ll have flash backs from what I did to him”
While Leon Edwards looks to prove the champ wrong this weekend, Belal Muhammad will soon return to action himself.
After having plans for his first defense against Shavkat Rakhmonov late last year scrapped due to injury, the Palestinian-American will instead put the belt on the line against Jack Della Maddalena at the Montreal-held UFC 315 pay-per-view on May 10.
