Leon Edwards welcomes a fight with a familiar face.
On the road to winning gold, the UFC Welterweight Champion collided with rising contender Belal Muhammad in 2021. Unfortunately, the short-notice fight wouldn’t do them any favors as it ended in a no-contest after Edwards accidentally poked Muhammad in the eye.
Since then, Muhammad and Edwards have kept their win-streaks intact in the welterweight division. Muhammad, who is unbeaten in his last 10 bouts, is closer than ever to a UFC title shot after a win over former title challenger Gilbert Burns. The 35 year-old been very vocal about securing a fight with Edwards, should he retain his title against Colby Covington at UFC 296.
‘Would I Fight Him Again? Absolutely,’ Says Edwards
Edwards doesn’t seem too impressed with Muhammad’s resume as of late, but he wouldn’t mind giving his former foe a rubber match at some point.
“Is he the No. 1 contender? I don’t know,” Edwards told MMA Fighting, regarding Muhammad as a potential opponent. “Would I fight him again? Absolutely. If he stands out. At the moment, there’s no one that clearly stands out. I’m hoping to see someone stand out after this fight straight away and then we can get it booked and get moving.”
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Not having fought since a title defense vs. Kamaru Usman in March, ‘Rocky’ hopes to keep busy against contenders like Muhammad.
“I want to be an active champion. I was fit to fight in September-ish but the UFC had other plans. They already had [Israel Adesanya] booked for already for the pay-per-view and there was other cards booked up already. It was between either New York [UFC 295] or this card… now here we are.”
Edwards Calls Muhammad ‘Easy Work’
While Belal Muhammad might not be the sexiest name to choose from, Leon Edwards is still down to make some ‘easy money’ if that’s who the UFC desires him to face.
“100 percent. That’s easy work,” Edwards said of a potential fight with Muhammad. “That’s easy money. If he is the guy next, he’s the guy. But does anyone want to see that? Probably not, but if he’s the guy, then I’ll happily silence him.”
First up on the agenda though, the UFC Welterweight Champion will have to get past Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington next weekend at UFC 296.
