Belal Muhammad and UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards recently had an exchange on social media regarding the next 170-pound title fight.
Edwards is coming off his second successful UFC Welterweight Championship defense. He defeated Colby Covington in the main event of UFC 296 on December 16. During the post-fight press conference, “Rocky” expressed his belief that there are better options than fighting Belal next.
Muhammad slammed Edwards in response to those comments with a tweet claiming the champion’s team are afraid of the fight.
Belal Muhammad & Leon Edwards Exchange Words
Hopping on X, Belal Muhammad took aim at Leon Edwards for downplaying his status as a contender.
Leon’s opinion doesn’t matter.. his coach doesn’t matter ..the only person I care about is Dana and he gave me his word.. that’s all that matters … we’re next and the fact that they’re showing fear only gives me more confidence ..you should be afraid
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) December 20, 2023
“Leon’s opinion doesn’t matter.. his coach doesn’t matter ..the only person I care about is Dana and he gave me his word.. that’s all that matters … we’re next and the fact that they’re showing fear only gives me more confidence ..you should be afraid.”
Edwards eventually responded, claiming that he’s already informed the UFC brass that he would take the fight with Belal.
lol belal calm down son you’re the least intimidating person in the organisation. I already told UFC I don’t mind I’ll fight you next that’s easy work. You just have to figure out why they hate you so much 😂
— Leon 'Rocky' Edwards (@Leon_edwardsmma) December 21, 2023
“Lol Belal calm down son you’re the least intimidating person in the organisation. I already told UFC I don’t mind I’ll fight you next that’s easy work. You just have to figure out why they hate you so much.”
Belal Explains Why He Now Dislikes Leon
On the surface, Belal and Leon don’t appear to be two fighters who would have bad blood with one another. With that said, when you take into account that their first meeting ended in an accidental eye poke, and that Belal feels Edwards is trying to big time him, it starts to make sense.
During an interview with MMAFighting.com, Muhammad explained what bothers him the most about Edwards.
“Not even the fact that we fought, and he’s the one who committed the foul,” Muhammad said. “He’s the one who eye-poked me. I’m the one who took the fight on three weeks’ notice, so he could have a fight. You’re the one who committed that act. I don’t really care about that anymore. Now, we’re looking at just stats.
“I’m on a 10-fight unbeaten streak. You were on a nine-fight unbeaten streak when you were waiting for your title shot and everybody brushing you off. You know how it feels to get brushed off like that.”
UFC CEO Dana White once promised Belal that he would receive a UFC title opportunity thanks to a unanimous decision win over Gilbert Burns. He didn’t fully commit to the fight during the UFC 296 post-fight press conference, however.
