If those who wait experience good things, the two world champions, who will headline UFC Fight Night on Saturday, have a lot to look forward to.
This weekend, the often overlooked Leon Edwards (18: 3) takes on the main event at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas against the often overshadowed Belal Muhammad (also 18: 3). Together, Edwards and Muhammad have a 19-5 record in the UFC, but they both struggled to win the division spotlight.
In an ironic twist, one or both of them could break out by fighting each other.
Edwards has been close to his first title shot in years – his eight-fight streak is the second-longest in the division after only 13 straight wins from Champion Kamaru Usman – and UFC President Dana White has hinted Edwards could be next with a win fight for the title.
Main organizers Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad are on the other end of the spectrum. Edwards, ESPN’s # 4 welterweight, will fight for the first time since July 2019 after numerous delays. Muhammad will be exactly a month away from beating Douglas Lima after winning four straight bouts and eight of his last nine in the UFC.
UFC Fight Night: Edwards versus Muhammad
• Saturday March 13th, UFC Apex, Las Vegas
• Primary Ticket: 8pm ET on ESPN +
• Preparations: 5:00 pm ET on ESPN +
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And for Muhammad, Saturday is his first main event in the UFC, where he has only been fighting since mid-2016. Such was the attraction of this matchup and the opportunity for the main event to Muhammad that he accepted the fight just five days after defeating Dhiego Lima at UFC 257 on February 13 – making him the fastest turnaround of his career.
The UFC welterweight division is in a unique time where the top names have spent a lot of time filling positions lately. Usman calls Jorge Masvidal (presumably because of his name worth), even though he only convincingly defeated Masvidal last July. Former interim champ Colby Covington only fought once in 2020 and has currently not booked anything.
Originally, Edwards was supposed to face the Khamzat Chimaev outbreak in 2020 at this main event, but Chimaev had to pull out due to the ongoing effects of COVID-19. Edwards responded to that message by offering to fight everyone in the weight class and saying he just had to compete.
It will be interesting to see how things play out at 170 pounds as different fighters employ different strategies. While the biggest names are obviously out to be selective about who to fight against, on Saturday there will be two world championships that have decided to tackle the problem by fighting just about everyone.
ESPN illustration
By the numbers
ESPN statistics and information
2.05: hits absorbed by Edwards per minute in the UFC, tying him with Neil Magny for the second smallest of the active world weights (behind Ramazan Emeevs 1.99). Edwards has not been incapacitated in his last four fights.
2 relatives
129: In his last fight, a win against Dhiego Lima on February 13th, Muhammad landed significant hits. It was a UFC career high for Muhammad.
28: Days on the night of the fight since Muhammad’s victory over Lima. Muhammad is the eighth fighter in the modern era of the UFC to attend a major event after a processing time of 28 days or less. The previous seven who did this went 2-3-2 on their returns.
602: Days when Edwards last won against Rafael dos Anjos on the night of the fight on July 20, 2019.
12: Combined winning streak of the two fighters of the main event. Edwards has won eight in a row, Muhammad four.
Sources: ESPN Stats & Information and UFC Stats
Five against five
Leon Edwards’ recent results
Victory: Rafael dos Anjos (UD, July 20, 2019; see ESPN +)
Prize: Gunnar Nelson (SD, March 16, 2019; see ESPN +)
Victory: Donald Cerrone (UD, June 23, 2018)
Victory: Peter Sobotta (TKO3, March 17, 2018)
Victory: Bryan Barberena (UD, September 2, 2017)
Belal Mohammed’s recent results
Prize: Dhiego Lima (UD, February 13, 2021; see ESPN +)
Prize: Lyman Good (UD, June 20, 2020; see ESPN +)
Prize: Takashi Sato (Sub3, September 7, 2019; see ESPN +)
Prize: Curtis Millender (UD, April 13, 2019; see ESPN +)
Loss: Geoff Neal (UD, January 19, 2019; see ESPN +)
And the winner is …
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“What a fun fight for these two guys,” Erick Nicksick, a trainer at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, told ESPN. “Edwards is that consistent guy. He’s efficient. I feel like he’s just always on your face and always putting that constant pressure on. … Belal Muhammad gets better with every fight you see him. He is a problem. You see a man who keeps winning these highly competitive decisions. Can he keep the same pace for five rounds? “
Learn how Nicksick and other experts break down the main event.
How to watch the fights
Watch the fighting on ESPN +. If you don’t have ESPN +, you can download it here.
There is also FightCenter, Here you can find live updates for every UFC card.
Saturday’s battle card
ESPN +, 8 p.m. ET
Leon Edwards versus Belal Muhammad | Welterweight
Mischa Cirkunov versus Ryan Spann | Light heavyweight
Dan Ige versus Gavin Tucker | Men’s featherweight
Jonathan Martinez versus Davey Grant | Men bantamweight
Manel Kape versus Matheus Nicolau | Flyweight of the men
Eryk Anders versus Darren Stewart | medium weight
ESPN +, 5 p.m. ET
Angela Hill versus Ashley Yoder | Straw weight
Charles Jourdain versus Marcelo Rojo | Men’s featherweight
Rani Yahya versus Ray Rodriguez | Men bantamweight
Nasrat Haqparast Vs. Rafa Garcia | Light
Cortney Casey versus JJ Aldrich | Women’s flyweight
Gloria de Paula vs. Jinh Yu Frey | Straw weight
Matthew Semelsberger versus Jason Witt | Welterweight
Three More Things to Know (from ESPN Stats & Information)
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1. Misha Cirkunov, who fights Ryan Spann in the co-main event, apparently (and wisely) does not trust the MMA judges. Since Cirkunov joined the UFC in 2015, each of his nine fights have ended with a break. The Latvian-born Canadian light heavyweight took the lead 6-3. Only five modern-day fighters have started their UFC careers with ten consecutive fights (Luke Rockhold, Nikita Krylov, Gabriel Gonzaga, Andrei Arlovski and DaMarques Johnson).
2. Angela Hill competes strawweight Ashley Yoder in her 17th UFC fight. The only fighter with more appearances than Hill is Jessica Andrade (18).
3. Dan Ige returns to the Octagon from Calvin Kattar for the first time since winning five fights in July. The 29-year-old Hawaiian meets the Canadian Gavin Tucker. Ige has had six wins since making his UFC debut in 2018, with Alexander Volkanovski scoring the most featherweights.
ESPN’s Jeff Wagenheim contributed to this bout preview.
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