The last time that Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad met each other, they ended their fight with an eye poke. It was not a happy encounter as Muhammad’s first UFC main event ended in a disaster, but at least the injury was not grave! The UFC Vegas 21 welterweight headliner was ruled a no-contest after Edwards did an eye poke in the second round. Muhammad was seen clutching his face in agony and screaming his lungs out while Edwards seemed baffled. The referee, Herb Dean, stopped the action immediately, and a physician said that the match had to be stopped. 

After years of waiting, the two fighters finally have a chance to go at each other again at UFC 304 and this time Edwards’ welterweight championship belt will be at stake. With the much-anticipated event just a couple of days away, the duo recalled in a candid conversation what it was like to poke in the eye and be at the receiving end of the eye poke.

Belal Muhammad describes the eye poke while Leon Edwards defends himself

The promotion is returning to the UK, where welterweight king Edwards will defend his title against Muhammad. ‘Rocky’ and ‘Remember the Name’ sat down to speak about their previous match and their overall career in the UFC 304 countdown video. The eye poke incident clearly could not be ignored, and both fighters were quick to express their true thoughts about the same.

Leon Edwards has often been accused of deliberately causing the accident at the UFC Vegas 21. However, the fighter denied all the accusations stating, “I was going for a cross-head kick. As I went for the cross, my finger kind of like touched just under his eye.” He further confessed, “The way he was crying out, I thought I went into his eyeball. But it didn’t. It went kind of just like under his lid.”

Meanwhile, Belal Muhammad also recalled the horrors of the fight and exactly what he felt after being poked in the eye. “For myself, I thought I was blind. I have had eye injuries I have had surgeries on my eye before that multiple times. And I was like my vision’s all gone,” revealed the American fighter.

Notably, this isn’t the first time that Muhammad has laid his heart bare about the horrific incident, as just after the event, he took to his official Instagram handle to share an update with his fans. “My heart is shattered my first main event ended like that, but God’s the best of planners. I’m sorry to the fans and the UFC [because] you deserved a full fight. Alhamdillah, the vision is coming back and no permanent damage to the eye. I’ll be back and want to run it back,” he wrote.

It is now finally time for Belal Muhammad to fulfill the promise he made to the fans via social media and he seems to be in high spirits to not only compete in a full fight against Leon Edwards but also end up on the winning side.

Belal Muhammad shows confidence in his rematch with Leon Edwards

The duo faced each other back in 2021 and this time, the no 1 title contender can avenge his loss. He is determined to redeem his lost glory as claimed by him while speaking to Josh Thomson. He said, “I hope he comes out trying to take me down. I hope he comes out trying to wrestle.” The UFC star has already performed exponentially with a 23-3-0 record and is coming with a five-match winning streak at UFC 304.

His biggest strength is wrestling, but he has some nasty striking games as well. Muhammad stated that he was way above Edwards at all levels and he was confident he could out-strike his opponent. On the other hand, Leon Edwards said that his opponent’s confidence is “deluded.”

Edwards believed that his opponent was talking “a lot of sh**” and thus in a conversation with Red Corner MMA, he mentioned, “But like I said, he best be ready. It’s going to be a long, hard, tough fight for him in Manchester.” The game is on again, so who do you think will win this time? Drop your predictions in the comments below.