Those who are not fans of Belal Muhammad must have felt justified upon seeing UFC CEO Dana White’s mood at the UFC 304 post-fight press conference immediately following his title win.
Muhammad toppled Leon Edwards in the card’s main event via unanimous decision to capture the UFC welterweight championship. Though he was able to get his shots in on the feet, perhaps his best work came with his strong wrestling background.
“Remember the Name” constantly pressured Edwards, bringing him to the fence on multiple occasions to score takedowns. Muhammad controlled Edwards in a way no one had ever seen before, though Edwards landed nasty elbows in the fight’s closing seconds that could have troubled Muhammad had the fight had more time.
Muhammad’s wrestling-heavy offense has led to him being negatively received by many fans, and it appeared from the moment White wrapped the belt around his waist in the Octagon that the UFC CEO was not impressed.
“It wasn’t a barnburner,” White said matter-of-factly at the press conference.
Dana White Says Belal Muhammad Gameplan Was ‘What You Would Expect’
After that comment, a reporter followed up by asking White if Edwards’ performance — along with others on the card — were compromised by a late start time. The card aired in its usual pay-per-view slot, so the pay-per-view did not begin until 3:10 AM in England after being delayed by 10 minutes due to the prelims running over time.
It should be worth noting that the decision to not move the start time to something more UK-friendly is widely believed to have been an ESPN decision, not UFC’s. Although the extent to which the promotion could have forced alternative plans has been widely debated.
White declined to comment on that matter, suggesting to reporters in Manchester that they’d have to ask Edwards himself about his performance.
The UFC did, however, suggest that he was not surprised by Muhammad’s gameplan given his training time with former undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“I know Belal has been training with Khabib,” White said. “So his performance is…what you would expect.”
Muhammad and Edwards were competing in a rematch from their initial 2021 battle that ended in a no contest after the former was hit with a bad eye poke.
Both men were on big unbeaten runs. UFC 304 marked “Rocky’s” first loss since his first fight with Kamaru Usman in December 2015. Muhammad, meanwhile, has not lost since a defeat at the hands of Geoff Neal in January 2019.
