If you had trouble before, perhaps championship gold will help you “Remember the Name.”
At UFC 304, Belal Muhammad proved the oddsmakers wrong as he largely dominated Leon Edwards in all facets to win the promotion’s welterweight title by unanimous decision (). The fight was the main event at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
From the opening bell, Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) stalked Edwards (22-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) down with his striking before he resorted to his wrestling in each sequence. In the opening 20 seconds, Muhammad elevated and dumped Edwards to the canvas. He also tagged Edwards with a pair of hard punches that appeared to stun the then-champion.
His takedowns were emphatic, including a massive slam that dropped Edwards straight on the crown of his head in Round 2. Edwards had his strongest round in Round 3, as he controlled Muhammad from the back for the near entirety of the five minutes.
Muhammad returned the favor of domination in Round 4 and much of Round 5. A powerful sequence of punched from Edwards in Round 5 cracked Muhammad’s head open, but it wasn’t enough to sway any judge.
AND NEW! 🗣️
BELAL MUHAMMAD IS THE WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD 🏆 #UFC304 pic.twitter.com/cVZ4DbQLbb
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 28, 2024
Saturday’s fight was a rematch of a 2020 bout that ended in a no contest when Edwards poked Muhammad in the eye. Since that fight, Edwards went on to win title gold and defend it twice. Muhammad won five straight fights to earn the title shot, including bouts vs. Sean Brady, Gilbert Burns, and Vicente Luque.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 304 results include:
- Belal Muhammad def. Leon Edwards via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)
- Tom Aspinall def. Curtis Blaydes via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:00
- Paddy Pimblett def. King Green via technical submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:22
- Gregory Rodrigues def. Christian Leroy Duncan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Arnold Allen def. Giga Chikadze via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Nathaniel Wood def. Daniel Pineda via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
- Bruna Brasil def. Molly McCann via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Jake Hadley def. Caolan Loughran via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Muhammad Mokaev def. Manel Kape via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Oban Elliott vs. Preston Parsons unanimous unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27
- Modestas Bukauskas def. Marcin Prachnio via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 3:12
- Sam Patterson def. Kiefer Crosbie via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:50
- Mick Parkin def. Lukasz Brzeski via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:23
- Shauna Bannon def. Alice Ardelean via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.
