Belal Muhammad is stepping in to fight Leon Edwards on short-notice. The news was announced on Thursday by sources at MMAJunkie. Following reports that Khamzat Chimaev was out of his bout with Edwards for the third time, Muhammad steps in fresh off his win last weekend.
Prior to the news coming to fruition, Muhammad put up a stellar performance on the huge UFC 258 card. In fact, the event showcased the dominance of Kamaru Usman when he finished Gilbert Burns in a dramatic fashion. Prior to Usman securing his legacy, Muhammad fought Dhiego Lima to a unanimous decision win.
Belal Muhammad Keeping Busy
Since he just fought Lima in mid-February, that means the devout Muslim has about four weeks left to train for Edwards. During his fight with Lima, “Remember The Name” came out of the gate fast. Got right up in Lima’s face and started firing strikes, during the scuffles though, Lima was landing some damaging calf kicks to Muhammad’s leg. Ultimately, the pace of Muhammad was too much for Lima who just couldn’t keep up with the offense.
Since Edwards’s conditioning is top-notch, Muhammad may have to implore a different strategy because Edwards can sit back and kickbox with the best of them, just ask Donald Cerrone or Rafael dos Anjos. Muhammad definitely has an established takedown game too. Either way, the fact that Edwards has been inactive for so long is a big red flag leading into the contest. Of course, another factor to consider was his struggle with Covid-19, but Muhammad recently contracted the virus too.
With the addition of Belal Muhammad vs. Leon Edwards, here is the up-to-date list of fights scheduled for March 13:
- Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad
- Davey Grant vs. Jonathan Martinez
- Matthew Semelsberger vs. Jason Witt
- Jinh Yu Frey vs. Gloria de Paula
- Dan Ige vs. opponent TBA
- Eryk Anders vs. Darren Stewart
- Nasrat Haqparast vs. opponent TBA
- Steve Garcia vs. Charles Jourdain
- Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
- Ray Rodriguez vs. Rani Yahya
- Philipe Lins vs. Ben Rothwell
