UFC’s Welterweight Division has a new Champion! Belal ‘Remember The Name’ Muhammad fulfilled his promise and defeated Leon Edwards to win the UFC Welterweight Championship on Sunday at UFC 304. This was a fight that had been building up for a long time. The Palestinian fighter has been on Edwards’ tail for a long time tearing up the Welterweight division and winning fights left and right.
There was a time when people wondered if the UFC was deliberately not providing Belal with the title opportunity against Edwards. But even they couldn’t deny him that opportunity for a long time. And so, when ‘Remember The Name’ finally was presented with this opportunity, he knew he had to make it count. And make it count he did.
In a unanimous decision victory over the Brit, Belal Muhammad became the first-ever Palestinian UFC champion. In his octagon interview, he dedicated this win to the people at home, saying, “This is for my family. This is for my people in Palestine, they are fighting the real Fight. Inshallah I put a smile on their face.”
In the leadup to the fight, Leon Edwards’ pre-fight antics had built up the tension to the maximum. The “Headshot dead” phrase was being thrown around by his fans who believed it would be a victory for the 32-year-old. However, it was Belal Muhammad who “Head-slammed” Leon Edwards in the 2nd Round at UFC 304, reversing how Leon fans saw this fight ending. Takedowns after Takedowns for Belal meant that there was only little that Edwards could do.
But after somehow valiantly surviving the first 4 rounds, Leon Edwards managed to hurt Belal extensively towards the end of the 5th round. Too bad for Edwards though, it was all too little too late. In the end, Belal Muhammad was crowned the “New” Welterweight champion of the UFC.
Belal Muhammad Claims to be 2nd best Welterweight OAT
During the leadup to his fight at UFC 304, Belal Muhammad claimed in a fight week interview with MMA Fighting that a win on Sunday would guarantee him second place in the All-Time UFC Welterweight Standings just below Georges St-Pierre. The 36-year-old said, “For me to go out there and beat Leon, who beat Usman(Kamaru) twice, who everybody thought was the best welterweight to do it, then I’m ahead of him and right underneath Georges St. Pierre.”
Well, now that he HAS beaten Leon Edwards, does it mean he really does rank second? Definitely not. To be the best at anything you need to have title-defences of which Belal has zero. But can Belal be the best in years to come? Why not. It’s certainly not easy with many eligible fighters lining up for a title shot. Shavkhat Rakhmonov, Ian Garry and others look quite the scary matchups in the octagon. For now, Belal has got to be content with being no. 5 or no. 6 in the list of the greatest welterweight UFC has seen.
And talking about GSP, he is on a different level altogether. Belal must be forgetting that GSP is not only the greatest welterweight to ever do it, but is considered at least in the top 3 of the Greatest UFC Fighters of all time, with many putting him at number 1, period. The Palestinian has a long way to go before fans start to even think about putting him anywhere close to GSP.
