Things nearly popped off early between Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad during an awkward fight-week encounter.
Days away from their highly anticipated clash at UFC 304 in Manchester, Muhammad was riding an elevator when the doors opened and he found the reigning welterweight world champion staring right back at him. Instead of waiting for another elevator to come by, ‘Rocky’ casually strolled into the lift alongside his team.
“I was going up to floor three, [the elevator] opened and he was standing right there in front,” Edwards said at UFC 304 media day. “I think he thought in his head that I wouldn’t come into the lift so I walked straight into the lift and said, ‘Press No. 3,’ and that was it.”
Though there were some words exchanged in the elevator, things didn’t heat up until the doors opened and Muhammad was able to remove himself from his claustrophobic surroundings.
“It was weird because in the lift he was mad quiet, and then after the lift opened and everyone’s outside, he’s like, ‘Oh p*ssy, blah, blah, blah.’” Edwards said. “Like bro, why didn’t you say all this in the lift? I don’t know.”
Leon Edwards gives his side of the elevator incident with his team and Belal Muhammad:
"Bro, why didn't you say all of this in the lift?" pic.twitter.com/O886HHuVGo
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) July 24, 2024
UFC Embedded cameras captured the entire interaction as Edwards and his team hopped into the elevator where Muhammad and his crew were already waiting. You can jump to the 6:40 mark of the below video to see the incident in full.
Addressing the situation during his media day appearance, ‘Remember The Name’ revealed that it was Edwards’ coach, Dave Lovell, who was doing much of the jawing.
“I just heard a little short freaking midget screaming something, and I was like, ‘What the heck was that?’” Muhammad said. “I saw it ended up being his coach in front, but Leon and his team didn’t say nothing. I’d rather have his coach talk. Because his coach was talking trash [in the elevator], it would be a [funnier] build-up talking with that little gremlin.”
Muhammad also offered a word of warning to Edwards’ brother, Bellator middleweight standout Fabian Edwards, who allegedly flashed him a dirty look during the confrontation.
“His brother [Fabian Edwards] was trying to give me a dirty look, but he didn’t know I was sizing him up for after the cage, if he ends up hopping in the cage wanting to do something.”
.@BullyB170 talks about an incident in the elevator with Leon Edwards' team:
"His brother was trying to give me a dirty look. But he didn't know I was sizing him up for after if he ends up hopping into the cage." pic.twitter.com/ydxlWbWvKo
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) July 24, 2024
Leon Edwards Reminds Belal Muhammad That ‘He Ain’t Khabib’
In the 14 months since his last appearance inside the Octagon, Belal Muhammad has been sharpening his tools alongside former lightweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Feeling confident about his improvements and the chances of leaving Manchester with UFC gold wrapped around his waist, Muhammad recently suggested that a win would place him near the top of the welterweight all-time list, right alongside former two-division titleholder Georges St-Pierre.
However, Edwards believes that Muhammad’s confidence is misguided, suggesting that ‘Remember The Name’ is simply feeding off another man’s accomplishments to fuel his own sense of self-worth.
“Everyone knows his game plan will be to come out and try wrestling. But even his wrestling, it ain’t all that. He ain’t f*cking Khabib [Nurmagomedov] or GSP, he’s Belal. Let’s see.”
He continued, “I ain’t Conor McGregor and he ain’t Khabib. You can’t use Khabib to credit yourself. You both trained for a little bit, that’s about it. I’ve trained with Khabib before. What does that mean? He’s using another man’s work to gain confidence, but you’re not putting that kind of work in.”
“I ain’t Conor McGregor and he ain’t Khabib.”
Leon Edwards feels Belal Muhammad is trying to use Khabib's work to "credit" himself ahead of #UFC304 pic.twitter.com/DI2GdQDWvq
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) July 24, 2024
