UFC champ Leon Edwards on Belal Muhammad's hate towards him: 'I don't get it'

MANCHESTER, England – Leon Edwards is confused by Belal Muhammad’s resentment towards him.

Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC) defends his welterweight title in a rematch against Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 304 (ESPN+ pay-per-view) main event at Co-op Live.

Muhammad said he hates Edwards and that this fight is personal for him. Edwards finds the entire build-up amusing and poked fun at Muhammad’s coach for comparing his striking to Canelo Alvarez.

“I don’t get it; I don’t know where it’s coming from,” Edwards told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at the UFC 304 media day. “I haven’t said much really apart from banter. For me it’s all banter. For him, he starts taking it deadly serious. As far as the Canelo thing, what the f*ck? You know what I mean?”

Edwards was able to rock Muhammad with a head kick early in their first fight in March 2021, before accidentally poking him in the eye just 18 seconds into Round 2. Their fight was ruled a no contest, and Muhammad has been eager to run things back ever since.

Edwards doubts Muhammad stands with him for too long and doesn’t even rate his grappling too highly.

“He might try to, but he won’t have much success in it,” Edwards said on Muhammad striking. “I think everyone knows his game plan would be to come out and try wrestling, but even his wrestling ain’t all that, really. He ain’t a f*cking Khabib (Nurmagomedov) or like a GSP (St-Pierre). He’s Belal (laughs). I don’t know, let’s see.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.