The bad blood between Belal Muhammad and UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards appears to be nearing a boiling point.
Edwards is targeting a return to defend the UFC welterweight title later this year, potentially against Muhammad. He last fought against Colby Covington at UFC 296, earning a unanimous decision victory.
An argument can be made that Muhammad deserves No. 1 welterweight contender status after winning nine of his last ten fights. He hasn’t fought since a win against Gilbert Burns at UFC 288 last year.
A title fight between Edwards and Muhammad was briefly linked to UFC 300, but the matchup fell through in favor of other desired matchups.
Edwards’ manager, Tim Simpson, gave his thoughts on the Muhammad fight not coming to fruition at UFC 300 during Thursday’s episode of The MMA Hour.
“It was asked by us, I assumed that was what it was going to be, but no there was no discussion for UFC 300,” Simpson said of Edwards vs. Muhammad. “I don’t want to pile on Belal Muhammad, he seems like a decent enough guy, but it doesn’t surprise me. Belal and Leon is probably not the marquee fight you want for this event, if I can say that respectfully.”
Earlier this year, it was reported that Muhammad wasn’t one of the three opponents that Edwards accepted for a UFC 300 slot. Shavkat Rakhmonov, Islam Makhachev, and Khamzat Chimaev were revealed as the targeted opponents for Edwards.
