UFC 304: Belal Muhammad stuns Leon Edwards with dominant display to become new welterweight champion

The second instalment between Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad was a must-watch event from the opening seconds, and it was the challenger who dampened the mood in Manchester at UFC 304 on Sunday morning. Muhammad delivered a smothering performance and controlled the majority of the bout to become the new welterweight champion as Edwards' reign ended after his third title defence.

Belal Muhammad produced a commanding performance to stun Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in Manchester on Sunday morning to become the new welterweight champion.

By applying constant pressure that forced Edwards against the cage, Muhammad was able to control much of the fight, which was mostly spent on the ground with the challenger in control.

On the feet, where Edwards was expected to dominate, it was Muhammad that seemed to land the better shots, with the challenger drowning the Brit with a constant flurry of strikes which stopped Edwards from finding his rhythm.

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At one point, it looked as though the champion may produce a moment similar to his crowning moment against Kamaru Usman in August 2022, where a knockout in the closing moments won him a fight where he was behind on the scorecards, as a series of ground and pound elbows cut Muhammad late in the final round.

But it was too late and the result was left in the hands of the judges, who scored the fight 47-48, 47-48 and 46-49 all in favour of Muhammad, giving him the victory by unanimous decision.

Speaking after the fight, Muhammad chose to antagonise the Manchester crowd who had been booing him throughout the five-round fight.

'I just broke him' - Muhammad on 'sense of relief' after defeating Edwards at UFC 304

Video credit: TNT Sports

He said: "It sounds like all of the people booing have got a lot of tears coming out of their eyes. I've got my family in here. God first, always. This fight is for my family, my people and for Palestine.

"I got the best team in the world, we study to the core, we get better. We've got the best strikers, these guys are killers. You might not know there names, but we've got a real champion in Chicago now.

"I'm Belal Muhammad. I'm my own man. Now the world sees it, they've got to respect it."

The result extends the champion's impressive win streak to 11 consecutive fights, while ending the streak of Edwards who had won his previous 12 bouts.

Tearful Muhammad is crowned new welterweight champion at UFC 304

Video credit: TNT Sports

Reacting to losing his belt, the former champion said: "I'm not surprised, my body just felt tired from round one.

"All week I've just felt tired from the timing but congrats to Belal, he got the job done and we'll get it back again."

The 32-year-old went on to confirm that he would like to fight again before the end of the year.

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