Ahead of Leon Edwards’ and Belal Muhammad’s huge grudge match at UFC 304 this coming Saturday, their teams have been getting involved in the rivalry.
The three-year feud between the two welterweights will finally be settled this weekend, when Leon Edwards makes the third defense of his title, against the deserved Belal Muhammad.
Ahead of the huge 170lb title fight, there has been a lot of animosity between the two, and Muhammad has made it clear that he hates the Brit as he believes he has been avoiding him since 2021.
Leon Edwards’ and Belal Muhammad’s teams separated at press conference
It isn’t just the two fighters who have got heavily involved in the beef, as earlier this week, they and their two teams had a run-in at the fighter hotel as they crammed into an elevator together.
From that brief exchange, ‘Remember The Name’ claimed that ‘Rocky’ looked scared and that he could smell fear in the Brit.
Despite that, video footage emerged on the UFC’s embedded which showed the two just staring at each other and exchanging a few words. However, it was more so the teammates and coaches of the two that were more involved.
Belal was seen sizing up Edwards’ brother, Fabian Edwards, a middleweight fighter in Bellator, who will be competing for the title on September 14.
At the press conference this past Thursday, the champion jokingly lunged toward the challenger, but the 36-year-old didn’t flinch.
Following that, it can be heard from the front row, American voices shouting: “F*** you Leon, you’re a b****.”
It turns out that on the front row were members of both Muhammad’s and Edwards’ teams. The two teams began exchanging words with each other and were separated from each other shortly after.
Edwards’ head coach, Dave Lovell has been pretty outspoken about Muhammad in the lead-up to the fight, but he was not seen to be involved in the press conference exchange.
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Leon Edwards makes hilarious jibe toward Muhammad at press conference
A few times already this year, UFC CEO, Dana White, has agreed to up the ante for the fights, increasing the performance bonuses.
At UFC 300 this past April, the boss agreed to raise the bonuses from $50,000 to $300,000. And at UFC 303, Alex Pereira earned a $303,000 bonus after his electrifying knockout.
The boss agreed to raise the bonuses at UFC 304 from $50,000 to $100,000 after he was asked by a reporter whether this is the biggest UK MMA event of all time, and King Green began to ask questions.
Responding to White raising the stakes, Muhammad shouted, “We’re going to Greece”, insinuating that he was going to knock out Edwards and earn the bonus.
Hilariously, the champion responded, “Belal, don’t worry about that, you ain’t knocking no one out.”