Leon Edwards was on top of the world going into his welterweight title bout against Belal Muhammad. First being propelled into superstardom after his head kick KO of Kamaru Usman at UFC 278, ‘Rocky’ decisively defended his title against ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ at UFC 286 and against Colby Covington ten pa-per-view cards later. But then along came Belal Muhammad, who wasn’t afraid of Edwards’ aura. ‘Remember the Name’ didn’t just beat Leon Edwards—it looked like he broke him in there.

Looking back at that night, he seems to have come to terms with the loss and even admitted that he might have underestimated ‘Bully B’—maybe the good old hubris took him over eight years of winning? Edwards spoke to TNT Sports and said, “I just thought it was Belal, I can beat Belal.”

He further described his mindset and explained, “I can’t tell you what it was. When I was going to fight, there were injuries got into it. It is what it is. I feel what made the most difference was time right? Fighting at 5 am. I did just try my best to do it in camp but for some reason, I couldn’t get my body used to it. Even in training when I was sparring it just wasn’t—I felt different. I mean I knew going into the fight that I felt different. But I always thought I could beat Belal you know. That was the mindset that I overlooked that played a big part in it also.”

Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad are old rivals in this game and their first encounter was in 2021. Back then ‘Rocky’ opened the bout with a dominant stance but unfortunately, eye poked Muhammad which was damaging enough to stop the fight. The fight was declared a no-contest and Edwards proceeded to become the welterweight champ shortly after, against Usman.

But now that Edwards lost his title to the Palestinian-American champ, the former has to prove himself again if he wants to snatch the title back. Before that, he needs to get past Sean Brady. And if history is any indication, given the style of Brady, Edwards might have to make certain adjustments.

Leon Edwards warned to change the strategy

Sean Brady and Edwards both have a common enemy—Belal Muhammad. The 17-1 fighter from the USA never lost a single fight except when he clashed against Muhammad at UFC 280. Now if Edwards can defeat Brady who only has one loss to the current welterweight champion, then he can get back into the title conversation.

According to Michael Bisping, Edwards has his heart in the right place but so does Brady. So if ‘Rocky’ really wants to win, he has to do something drastic. While speaking to TNT Sports, ‘The Count’ stated that Edwards would need to plan a completely different strategy because Brady is not someone to be trifled with.

He said, “I think it’s potentially even bigger than that for Leon Edwards. This fight is all about proving to himself proving to all the British fans proving to the UFC that he has still got it. And that’s what he’s going to show you of course he still got it there is no shame in losing to Belal Muhammad. He beats a lot of people he is the champion.”

In fact Brady is so formidable that even Sean Strickland’s coach  Eric Nicksick stated that when Muhammad’s grappling prowess was “flowy” , Brady’s would be full-on forward pressure much like Khabib Nurmagomedov’s style. Brady has dominant wins over Kelvin Gastelum and Gilbert Burns, and has already become a promising welterweight contender.

So now that two fighters with a common rival are coming together to clash, how do you see this fight ending? Will Brady remind Edwards of what happened with Muhammad at UFC 304 or will ‘Rocky’ turn the tables? Share your thoughts below!