Israel Adesanya respects Belal Muhammad‘s achievements but believes Leon Edwards is a terrible stylistic matchup for him and predicts Edwards will likely finish the fight in their upcoming rematch at UFC 304.
Israel Adesanya respects what Belal Muhammad has done to earn a title shot. But he believes Leon Edwards is a terrible stylistic matchup for him.
Edwards and Muhammad meet for a second time in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 304 fight card in Manchester, England. Muhammad is unbeaten in 10 fights, making him a deserving challenger. However, Adesanya doesn’t see Muhammad getting his hand raised—or even making it to the scorecards.
“Belal’s got pressure, man,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “It just seems like he’s able to get to people and put his will on them.”
“But I’ll tell you one thing,” Adesanya continued, “Leon just seems like he’s on a f*cking massacre right now. He’s on a run… Leon might finish him. I think Leon finishes this fight.”
Adesanya is playing the title challenger role in his own right as he prepares to face Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight championship at UFC 305 in Perth on Aug. 17.
Breaking down the second meeting between Edwards and Muhammad following a no-contest after an accidental eye poke in their first meeting in March 2021, Adesanya saw Edwards have a lot of success early. While he understands both men have improved drastically since their first meeting, Adesanya believes Edwards will need to have an off night for Muhammad to pull off the upset.
“I’m trying to see how Belal can win this fight,” Adesanya said. “To get to Leon with wrestling, he has good distance, good weapons to make sure you don’t want to get close.”
“If you get close,” he added, “it doesn’t mean you’re safe because he can take you down too.”
“This seems like a bad match for Belal,” Adesanya concluded. “I’m not hating on Belal or anything; I’m just trying to see what’s his path to victory in this.”
“Striking? Leon’s got it. Grappling? You want to lean towards Belal, but Leon is right up there.”
“It’s Leon’s fight to win; it’s Leon’s fight to lose.”