Belal Muhammad’s nickname is “Keep in mind the Identify.”
After Saturday evening’s victory, they will not overlook it.
Muhammad shocked Leon Edwards with an authoritative efficiency that blended stifling grappling and much-improved placing to win the welterweight championship by unanimous determination Saturday in the primary occasion of UFC 304 on the Co-op Reside enviornment in Manchester, England.
The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46.
The combat was a rematch of their 2021 assembly that led to a no-contest after Muhammad suffered an unintentional eye poke and was unable to proceed. Muhammad needed to wait patiently for the rematch and made good on the chance when it lastly arrived with a career-defining efficiency in opposition to the hometown hero who sought to ship the followers house completely satisfied.
“We’ve an actual champion in Chicago now,” Muhammad mentioned after extending his unbeaten streak to 11.
UFC president Dana White mentioned afterward that a direct rematch between Muhammad and Edwards was unlikely, saying that Saturday’s combat “wasn’t a barnburner.
The combat could not have began any higher for Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC), who wasted little time swooping in and taking Edwards to the canvas. Nonetheless, Edwards labored his manner again to his ft because the Manchester crowd erupted. Edwards went to work along with his placing, drilling Muhammad with a knee to the midsection and touchdown a tough left uppercut. However Muhammad broke by way of with an uppercut and blended in a slam for a second takedown to shut the spherical.
It was a stark distinction from their earlier assembly, by which Edwards (22-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) methodically picked Muhammad aside within the opening spherical earlier than the attention poke ended the combat. This time round, it was Muhammad selecting aside Edwards. Muhammad additionally took his grappling to a different stage, courtesy of getting former light-weight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in his camp to assist him put together for the combat.
The Palestinian American began rapidly within the second spherical, matching Edwards in hand velocity and ultimately taking him down. Edwards managed to face up, however Muhammad dumped the champion headfirst on the canvas and rapidly took his again. Desperately needing a shift in momentum, Edwards received to his ft and took Muhammad down on the finish of the spherical.
Within the third spherical, Edwards turned the tables on the grappler by securing a takedown and taking Muhammad’s again. The champion tried to lock in a rear-naked choke as Muhammad desperately fought off the makes an attempt throughout the spherical. However that was the one noteworthy second that Edwards might discover in a combat that was solidly in Muhammad’s grasp.
Edwards opened the fourth spherical stinging Muhammad with a left hook. However Muhammad held his personal, touchdown a mix that received Edwards’ consideration earlier than getting one other takedown and flipping the script from the earlier spherical. Edwards reversed place with 25 seconds left within the spherical, however it wasn’t sufficient to drag the combat even.
With coach Dave Lovell passionately urging him to complete the combat, Edwards sought a fight-ending sequence to retain his title. However Muhammad stored up the stress and swarmed in for yet one more takedown, his ninth of the combat, and once more managed him for almost the whole spherical. With time operating out, Edwards desperately reversed place and blasted Muhammad with an elbow that opened a gaping reduce. It was too little, too late. A brand new champion was to be topped in hostile territory.
The loss ended Edwards’ 13-fight unbeaten streak, the primary blemish on his file in over eight years.
“He mentioned I am no Khabib [Nurmagomedov] or Georges St-Pierre. I am Belal Muhammad,” Muhammad mentioned. “I am my very own man. Now the world is aware of it and sees it, now they must respect it. I am a world champion.”