Leon Edwards claims Belal Muhammad wanted “a way out” by not continuing after eye poke in first fight

Leon Edwards says Belal Muhammad didn’t want to fight him anymore after the first round of their fight back in 2021.

Muhammad stepped up on short notice to headline a Fight Night card at the Apex against Edwards in a pivotal fight at welterweight. In the first round, Edwards had a lot of success as he landed a head kick that rocked Muhammad. Then, just seconds into the second round, Edwards’ eye poked Muhammad and the fight was stopped as ‘Remember The Name’ couldn’t continue.

Now, ahead of their rematch as Edwards puts his welterweight title on the line in the main event of UFC 304, the Brit says Muhammad wanted a way out of their first fight and took it with the eye poke as he knew he was going to lose.

“I was having my way, I feel like I was just getting into the fight, I hurt him in round one, I had him wobbled. I went for a cross-head kick and my finger kind of touched just under his eye. The way he was crying, I thought it actually went into his eyeball but it didn’t, it went under his lid. Skill-for-skill, I was the better man, I think it showed in the fight. I was piecing him from Round 1 to the incident happened. I definitely feel like he was looking for a way out,” Edwards said on UFC Countdown.

It is an interesting take from Leon Edwards who gets a chance to prove he is the better fighter on Saturday in the main event of UFC 304. Edwards enters UFC 304 as the betting favorite, as the oddsmakers expect Belal Muhammad to fall short in his first crack at the welterweight title.

Leon Edwards is coming off a lackluster decision win over Colby Covington in December to defend his welterweight title for the second time. He had edged out a decision over Kamaru Usman to defend his belt for the first time after he scored a fifth-round KO win over Usman to win the title.