Andreas Hale, ESPNJul 28, 2024, 01:35 AM ETBelal Muhammad‘s nickname is “Remember the Name.”After Saturday night time’s victory, they will not neglect it.Muhammad shocked Leon Edwards with an authoritative efficiency that combined stifling grappling and far improved hanging to win the welterweight championship by unanimous choice Saturday in the primary occasion of UFC 304 at the Co-Op Live area in Manchester, England.The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46 for Muhammad.The fight was a rematch of their 2021 assembly that resulted in a no-contest after Muhammad suffered an unintentional eye poke and was unable to proceed. Muhammad needed to wait patiently for the rematch and made good on the chance when it lastly arrived with a career-defining efficiency in opposition to the hometown hero who sought to ship the followers home joyful.Editor’s Picks2 Related”We have a real champion in Chicago now,” Muhammad stated, extending his unbeaten streak to 11.The fight could not have began any higher for Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC), who wasted little time swooping in and taking Edwards to the canvas. However, Edwards labored his method back to his ft because the Manchester crowd erupted. Edwards went to work along with his hanging, drilling Muhammad with a knee to the midsection and touchdown a arduous left uppercut. But Muhammad broke by way of with an uppercut and combined in a slam for a second takedown to close the spherical.It was a stark distinction from their earlier assembly, through which Edwards (22-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) methodically picked Muhammad aside within the opening spherical earlier than the attention poke ended the fight. This time round, it was Muhammad choosing aside Edwards. He additionally took his grappling to a different degree, courtesy of having former light-weight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in his camp to help him put together for the fight.The Palestinian-American began rapidly within the second spherical, matching Edwards in hand pace and ultimately taking him down. Edwards managed to stand up, however Muhammad dumped the champion head-first on the canvas and rapidly took his back. Desperately needing a shift in momentum, Edwards received to his ft and took Muhammad down at the tip of the spherical.In the third spherical, Edwards turned the tables on the grappler by securing a takedown and taking Muhammad’s back. The champion tried to lock in a rear-naked choke as Muhammad desperately fought off the makes an attempt for the period of the spherical. But that was the one noteworthy second that Edwards may discover in a fight that was solidly in Muhammad’s grasp.Edwards opened the fourth spherical stinging Muhammad with a left hook. But Muhammad held his own, touchdown a mixture that received Edwards’ consideration earlier than getting one other takedown and flipping the script from the earlier spherical. Edwards reversed place with 25 seconds left within the spherical, nevertheless it wasn’t enough to tug the fight even.With coach Dave Lovell passionately urging him to complete the fight, Edwards sought a fight-ending sequence to retain his title. Unfortunately, Muhammad stored the stress and swarmed in for yet one more takedown, his ninth of the fight, and again managed him for practically your entire spherical. With time operating out, Edwards desperately reversed place and blasted Muhammad with an elbow that opened a gaping cut. But it was too little, too late. A brand new champion was to be topped in hostile territory.The loss ended Edwards’ 13-fight unbeaten streak, the primary blemish on his report in over eight years.”He stated I’m no Khabib [Nurmagomedov] or Georges St-Pierre. I’m Belal Muhammad,” Muhammad stated. “I’m my own man. Now the world knows it and sees it, now they have to respect it. I’m a world champion.”