MONTREAL – Belal Muhammad will have his eyes peeled for a battle between his former foes at UFC Fight Night 255.
Leon Edwards (22-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) takes on Sean Brady (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in the March 22 main event at The O2 in London. UFC welterweight champion Muhammad dethroned Edwards to become champion at UFC 304, and is the lone fighter to hand Brady a loss when he stopped him by TKO at UFC 280.
Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) makes his first title defense against Jack Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in the UFC 315 headliner May 10 at Bell Centre. While he has his sights set on Shavkat Rakhmonov with a win, he won’t rule out Brady’s chances of becoming No. 1 contender if he can impress against Edwards.
“That’s a big one, right? That’s another name where you’re like, ‘He looked good his last two fights,’” Muhammad told MMA Junkie of Brady. “I think he has to go out there and put on a performance against Leon, and then we’ll also see where Leon is because Sean Brady isn’t an easy task. But I beat both of them, so whoever’s watching that fight, just know that the best man in the world has the belt because you’re going to be cheering for both of those guys, and I beat them all.”
Edwards was originally scheduled to face Della Maddalena, but the Aussie was pulled for a title fight against Muhammad. Edwards’ past four fights came against Muhammad, Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman twice, which makes the champion think he’ll be well prepared for Brady’s grappling approach.
“You just had a whole camp for me, you just fought Usman, and then when you’re looking at Jack, he was a whole different style than us, but it’s not going to be a change for you,” Muhammad said. “Even when you’re training for Jack, he’s a boxer. Brady is going to need to box to get inside of you, so your distance control should be good, your hands should be good.
“Then Brady has to come to you on short notice, so it’s going to be an interesting fight. I don’t think Brady is going to be able to get in on him with his takedowns. I think Brady shoots kind of like Usman where he reaches, and he doesn’t really have great setups. And in a bigger cage, I think Leon is going to be able to stick and move, kick and move. But I’m excited to see it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 255.
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