The coming weekend, Leon Edwards will defend the welterweight belt against Belal Muhammad in his home country. Ahead of the fight, the mental warfare between the two has already commenced. Surprisingly Belal has been the first to fire a shot, stating that an instance from Edwards’ previous fight proved to him that ‘Rocky’ is not really a champion despite the belt.
During the recently released UFC Countdown video, ‘Remember the name’ shared his thoughts on his upcoming fight against ‘Rocky’.
He went on to add how a moment from his first fight with Usman gave him a glimpse into his mental strength. Talking about Edwards’ coach needed to hype him up by asking him to fight for him, Belal said that it showed him that the champion just didn’t have that dog in him.
“It just shows me that you do not have that dog in you. You do not have that man in you. He is not really a champion. I am going to dominate him, I am going to drown him, I am going to make it the worst night of his life.”
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The instance being referred to here by Belal took place just before the final round of the first fight between Edwards and Usman. Rocky was down on all scorecards heading into the final round.
Therefore, ‘Paulie’ had to come in motivate him with a speech. He ultimately ended up winning the fight in brutal fashion securing one of the most devastating head kick knockouts.
He has since gone on to defend the belt twice. However, the Palestinian-American challenger believes he will win the title and change the landscape of the division,
Belal Muhammad vows to be an active champion
During recent interviews, Belal stated that there are a few reasons for his dislike of Edwards, but the key was his lack of activity ever since he became a champion. Since becoming the champion in August 2022, Edwards fought only twice in 2023.
Belal believes that this level of activity is not something a champion should have. He believes that champions should be as active as the likes of Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya.
‘Remember the name’ stated that once he becomes champion, he will follow their footsteps and not hold up the division. He does have a point. When Kamaru Usman was the welterweight champion, he fought so regularly that he went through the entire division twice!
