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via Imago

via Imago

Belal Muhammad is continuing to pile on the pain on Leon Edwards even after the UFC 304 clash. ‘Bully B’ shockingly utterly dominated ‘Rocky’ in the main event of the Manchester card last week to become the new welterweight champion. And now he is taking shots at the former champion after the humiliating loss. His target: Leon Edwards reportedly hired an F1 sleep specialist to help him prepare for their UFC 304 contest. For reference, UFC 304 in Manchester took place very early in the morning to make sure it was near Prime Time for the American audiences.

Edwards, to make sure he slept well in preparation for the fight, hired the F1 experts since they help drivers sleep in different time zones, according to Ariel Helwani. Muhammad reacted to a clip of the journalist talking about it and quipped that he spent considerably less to tune up his sleep according to the schedule.

“Dang all I did was buy a 10 dollar sound machine off Amazon,” he tweeted.

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Edwards, as you may well know, spoke about the irregular timing of the card as the reason why he performed so poorly against Muhammad. It seems hiring the F1 sleep expert came to naught as he still wasn’t able to prepare himself for a 5 a.m. fight.

To be fair, ‘Rocky’ did look almost stunned and was entirely out of his element in the fight. While he did have some good moments, especially at the end, where he almost knocked out Muhammad, Edwards was uncharacteristically sloppy for most of their clash.

Of course, this may be a result of Belal Muhammad imposing his will (and game plan) on ‘Rocky’, which may have taken him aback. Or it may be a combination of both, with the sleep issue perhaps causing Edwards to perform even worse. Predictably, ‘Rocky’s excuses did not go down well with fans, unlike ‘Bully B’s aforementioned tweet, which delighted fans.

Fans react to Belal Muhammad mocking Leon Edwards for sleep expert

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One fan asked rhetorically if Edwards was the only one fighting in the early hours of the morning, doubtlessly implying that Muhammad had to fight under the same conditions, which made ‘Rocky’s excuse null and void: “Didn’t you fight at 5am as well, or was Leon fighting alone?”

Another fan was so exasperated at Edwards using his sleep as an excuse that they wrote a long post, pointing out all of the predictable steps the former champion could have taken to make sure he was ready for an early morning clash: “Does someone need a specialist to know that for the 3 weeks leading into the fight they should adjust their training and sleep schedule so they peak at 3am? This isnt rocket science.”

Another fan felt that the UFC 304 clash had ‘exposed’ Edwards as not being ready for the highest level of the sport (despite him having defeated perhaps the welterweight GOAT, Kamaru Usman to become champion two years ago): “Leon’s mind isn’t strong enough for his level of competition, great skills but i dont think he can fast and train simultaneously.”

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A social media user, while not quite as acerbic as the previous commenter, did think that Edwards’ best days were behind him and felt that Muhammad may just have ended ‘Rocky’s career: “Leon’s washed belal retired him.” Meanwhile, a UFC viewer hilariously took a shot at Edwards’ proclivity for decisions, and quipped that all Muhammad needed to do to fall asleep was to watch one of the Englishman’s previous fights: “All Belal did to sleep was put a Leon Edwards fight on the TV.” 

What are your thoughts on Belal Muhammad’s latest tweet? Let us know in the comments below.