- Robert Whittaker was baffled by how underwhelming Leon Edwards’ performance was against Belal Muhammad
- “The Reaper” was impressed by how “Remember The Name” upset “Rocky” in his hometown
Robert Whittaker was among the many who couldn’t believe why Leon Edwards underperformed in his title fight with Belal Muhammad at UFC 304.
Rob was surprised
Speaking on his MMArcade podcast, “The Reaper” voiced his confusion about the way “Rocky” fought “Remember The Name.” The way Whittaker saw it, the Edwards who showed up against Muhammad was far from the champion who dominated Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman.
“I was surprised, not surprised like that Muhammad surprised me… I was surprised because Leon’s last two showings against Usman and Colby looked vastly different to the Leon that turned up against Muhammad,” Whittaker assessed. “Now, what does that mean? Because I don’t want to take away from Belal just turning up and honestly dominating Leon Edwards. Like, he belted him in the stand-up. He put that constant pressure, was punching him up.”
“I am wondering why Leon had no answer for it because we saw him go up against the likes of Usman, we saw him go up against the likes of Colby, and both guys couldn’t do that. Was it because Belal is a much bigger welterweight? He looked strong in that. I don’t want to take away because it was such a good showing from Belal, but it was such a, like, did he shut down that hard that he made Leon look bad, or was it because Leon was off? He said he felt lethargic or whatever,” he added.
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Rob praised Belal
Whittaker made it clear that he wasn’t rooting for either Edwards or Muhammad. However, he couldn’t help but praise “Remember The Name” for bullying a high-level fighter like “Rocky.”
“I wasn’t really going for either Leon or Belal but I thought Belal looked sensational. Dude had dog in him, guy wanted it. He wasn’t listening to the booing of the crowd, he wasn’t in there, he didn’t care if it wasn’t pretty, guy ran it forward like, it executed a game plan against a very good guy… went into the fighting ranks gleefully, took shots to land shots and just bullied the hell out of him,” Whittaker raved.
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A trilogy match between Edwards and Muhammad is unlikely to happen as UFC president Dana White is not in favor of it. On the other hand, “Remember The Name” is also not giving “Rocky” a quick rematch and wants to take on the most deserving contender instead.