14 months faraway from his final look contained in the Octagon, top-ranked contender Belal Muhammad stepped into the primary occasion highlight at UFC 304 trying to land a large upset over reigning welterweight world champion Leon Edwards.
Muhammad received his floor recreation going proper out the gate, securing a strong takedown in opposition to the fence. Earlier than lengthy, Edwards was capable of muscle his method again up and went to work on the toes, lighting up Muhammad with a collection of strong strikes. With lower than a minute to go within the first, Muhammad appeared to clip Edwards, forcing the champ again and permitting the challenger to safe one other clear takedown to shut the spherical.
Muhammad picked up proper the place he left off within the second, backing up Edwards with some strikes earlier than taking pictures in and taking the champ’s again. Each time ‘Rocky’ would struggle his method again up, Muhammad would ragdoll him again all the way down to the canvas.
In a near-disastrous second, ‘Bear in mind The Identify’ inadvertently spiked Edwards on the highest of his head throughout a mat return, although the referee both didn’t discover or just selected to not deal with it.
After giving up two rounds, Leon Edwards turned the tables within the third, revering a takedown from Muhammad and taking his opponent’s again. Rocky’ slapped on a physique triangle and went fishing for a rear-naked choke, however ‘Bully B’ prevented Edwards from cinching something in.
Spherical 4 noticed Muhammad again in management, touchdown one other early takedown and taking Edwards’ again. Within the closing 30 seconds, ‘Rocky’ reversed the place, however was unable to muster earlier than the bell. It was extra of the identical within the fifth with ‘Bear in mind The Identify’ taking Edwards down and shortly controlling his again.
With time working out, Edwards reversed place and dropped some nasty elbows from the highest place, busting open Muhammad and bloodying him. Sadly, it wasn’t sufficient to shut the hole on the scorecards.
Official End result: Belal Muhammad def. Leon Edwards through unanimous determination (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) to win the UFC welterweight world championship
