Belal Muhammad finally gets his shot at undisputed UFC gold this coming weekend when he takes on welterweight champion Leon Edwards in the UFC 304 main event. Ahead of their rematch, tensions have begun to rise.
After going on a 10-fight unbeaten streak and beating Gilbert Burns last time out, Belal Muhammad was finally granted his wish to challenge for UFC welterweight gold, but he will have to do so on enemy territory.
‘Remember The Name’ is seemingly not very fond of the champion, Leon Edwards, and not just because he stands in his way of the title.
Belal Muhammad details an elevator meeting with Leon Edwards
The two first met back in 2021 in what was Muhammad’s first main event. Unfortunately for both 170lbers, the bout was stopped in round two because of an accidental eye poke from Edwards.
Since then, the 36-year-old has made it his goal to make ‘Rocky’ his rival and will finally get his chance at redemption this coming Saturday.
And with that, the challenger won’t need to wait till Thursday evening at the UFC 304 press conference to get a look at the champion, as he has detailed a run-in he had with Edwards in the fighter hotel elevator.
“I just saw him right now in the elevator, he looked like he was afraid, him and his brother and coach, they all looked like cowards. His coach was trying to talk a little bit of trash so I’m hoping his coach shows up at the press conference because I know Leon isn’t gonna talk,” Muhammad told MMAJunkie.
‘Remember The Name’ claimed that he saw ‘fear’ in Edwards’ eyes as the two were locked in the elevator together, giving Muhammad more confidence.
“We were in the same elevator, they (were in a group of) six or seven guys so they thought they would be tougher or whatever, but me and my boy Max always hold anything down. I was already (in there), he wouldn’t be confident enough to stay in the elevator if my group was in there.
“They thought they were gonna be cooler or try to be tougher but I smelt fear. Leon didn’t say a word, his coach was talking but he has a weird stupid accent and he sounds like he kind of has autism or slow so I didn’t know what he was saying at all,” Muhammad continued.
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Belal Muhammad claims Khabib Nurmagomedov has broken down Leon Edwards for him
In preparation for the biggest fight of his career thus far, Muhammad has been training with former UFC lightweight king, Khabib Nurmagomedov and his team.
Of course, ‘The Eagle’ has cornered the current 155lb champion, Islam Makhachev and so has nouse when it comes to breaking down an opponent as a coach. Despite that, the legend will not be in the corner of Muhammad for his UFC 304 title challenge.
“It just puts me on another level (training with Khabib). Training with him and getting advice from him is worth 20, 30, 40, 50 days with anyone else. Just being able to feel his strength, feel his pressure, feel his knowledge,” Muhammad told Shak MMA.
“To have him give me advice on what he thinks I should be doing, what I should be doing for this fight and breaking down Leon, telling me what he thinks the gameplan should be, the knowledge is endless,” Muhammad told.
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