UFC 304: Belal Muhammad knocks off Leon Edwards for welterweight title, Tom Aspinall grabs quick KO win over Curtis Blaydes

UFC 304: Belal Muhammad knocks off Leon Edwards for welterweight title, Tom Aspinall grabs quick KO win over Curtis Blaydes

Belal Muhammad is the brand new welterweight champion after his large win over Leon Edwards on Sunday. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC through Getty Pictures)

Belal Muhammad lastly bought his win over Leon Edwards, and he did so on Edwards’ house turf.

Muhammad shocked Edwards with an enormous unanimous determination win in the principle occasion at UFC 304 early on Sunday morning. Muhammad largely shut down Edwards all through all the combat in a gradual bout that left loads of followers in Co-Op Dwell in Manchester, England, strolling out of the sector early very upset. Muhammad landed practically 100 extra whole strikes than Edwards did and he survived a late flurry to seize the welterweight belt.

Muhammad did not waste any time in his problem. He took Edwards down a number of instances within the first spherical and clearly took the early benefit of their bout. Muhammad took him down once more nearly instantly within the second spherical, too, after which bought him once more with a large drop to Edwards’ head.

Edwards had his flashes all through the night time, together with with a fast takedown on the finish of the second spherical in what was his first true flash of something up till that time. He landed a number of large blows to Muhammad’s head within the ultimate 30 seconds of the fifth spherical, too, which despatched blood pouring out of Muhammad’s face and onto the mat.

That, nevertheless, got here too late. Muhammad held on in the long run and grabbed the unanimous determination win to steal the welterweight title away from Edwards.

Muhammad now holds a 24-3 file after the win on Sunday. He is received 10 straight relationship again to 2019, too, with the no-contest end with Edwards in the midst of that stretch. Edwards dropped to 22-4 with the loss, which was his first since Kamaru Usman bought him in 2015. Edwards entered the night time coming off a unanimous determination win over Colby Covington in December.

Tom Aspinall got here out sizzling within the co-main occasion and efficiently defended his interim heavyweight championship belt with a large first-round knockout win over Curtis Blaydes. Aspinall simply barely missed a right-handed head shot after drilling Blaydes along with his left, which despatched Blaydes stumbling again to the mat. Aspinall then pounced and delivered a fury of head pictures, which had the official calling the combat only one minute in.

The win avenged Aspinall’s loss to Blaydes from the final time they squared off in 2022. Blaydes beat Aspinall in that bout, although Aspinall went down with a leg damage simply 15 seconds into that combat. Aspinall now holds a 15-3 file. He is received three straight since his loss to Blaydes, and he entered the night time contemporary off a first-round win over Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 final fall. Blaydes dropped to 18-5 in his profession, and he is now misplaced two of his final three fights.

Sustain with UFC 304 and the battle between Edwards and Muhammad tonight with Yahoo Sports activities:

LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER152 updates

  • RESULT: Belal Muhammad def. Leon Edwards by determination (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)

  • Battle ends and we will the scorecards

    Belal is leaking, however heads to his nook along with his arms raised

  • Wow Edwards simply busted open Muhammad’s face with an elbow

  • Edwards reverses with 40 seconds left!

  • Followers have seen sufficient (additionally, it is 6 a.m. in Manchester)

  • Belal takes Edwards’ again with over 3 minutes left within the combat

  • Edwards’ nook tells him he wants a end within the fifth spherical

  • Edwards reverses place within the ultimate 30 seconds

    The combat is heading to the fifth spherical and it is probably Edwards wants a end to retain his title after Belal received the 4th spherical.

  • Muhammad has taken the champ down for an eighth time

    And now it is time for Muhammad to search for a submission from the again. 90 seconds left within the spherical

  • Belal touchdown some combos now within the fourth

  • Edwards takes Spherical 3

    The champion’s physique lock received him the spherical and killed any of Muhammad’s momentum, however the challenger remains to be up two rounds to 1.

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