Leon Edwards hadn’t tasted defeat in nearly a decade when he had one of the worst nights of his life falling to Belal Muhammad this past July in the fight that cost him the UFC welterweight title.
In the aftermath of that disappointing result, Edwards hasn’t spoken much about the loss outside of the struggles he faced trying to perform while competing at a bizarre start time with the main event kicking off around 5 a.m. Looking back now, Edwards has come to terms with what went wrong that night, but he’ll never completely get past losing, especially such a monumental fight.
“I kind of let this loss sit with me for a little bit, just to get it in [my head] that I actually lost first of all,” Edwards told MMA Fighting. “Then from there, I was able to regroup. Even though it was a loss, it still a close fight, right? Like he won three rounds, I won two rounds on the scorecards on my worst night. So it’s easier to put it behind me knowing that it wasn’t fully me in there on my best night. It was easier to put it behind me that way.
“Obviously a loss hurts, and it’s upsetting, but now I’m at a stage where it is what it is. I believe I am the best welterweight in the division. I’ve just got to go out there Saturday night and prove it and just put all my wrongs right and it starts Saturday night.”
Edwards returns to action this weekend against Sean Brady with the chance to redeem himself in another five-round main event with hopes that a win puts him right back into title contention.
While he’s moved on from that loss to Muhammad this past July, Edwards admits that the way it all went down is always going to bug him just because he knows he didn’t perform anywhere near his best that night.
“I watched it before when it first finished, I rewatched it,” Edwards said about the fight. “I haven’t watched it since. I always knew I felt like it wasn’t me, and watching it back, it wasn’t me. It was difficult to watch the way the fight went and knowing that 9 out of 10 times I beat Belal but that one time he got the win. It is what it is.
“[Now] I’m focusing on becoming a two-time world champion. That’s where my head is at.”
A lot has been said about the rivalry that spawned out of two fights between Edwards and Muhammad that dates back to their first encounter in 2021. That night, Edwards opened the fight in dominant fashion but he delivered an eye poke that damaged Muhammad’s vision enough that he couldn’t continue.
The fight was declared a no contest and while Edwards moved onto eventually become UFC champion, Muhammad never forgot about the unfinished business between them.
Just over three years later, Muhammad finally made good on his promise to beat Edwards when he traveled to England and earned a unanimous decision to claim the welterweight title. Since that night, Muhammad rarely misses a chance to remind Edwards about their rematch and he’s even gone as far as saying that he doesn’t believe that the former champion will ever earn his way back for another title shot.
But unlike some of the truly vile things that Colby Covington said leading up to his fight against Edwards in 2023, Muhammad never turned things personal. That’s why Edwards is keeping things professional where Muhammad is concerned even if their personalities definitely clash.
“He’s just an annoying human being,” Edwards said with a laugh. “Just the way he looks and the way he talks, he’s just annoying. That’s all it really was. There wasn’t nothing personal. He’s just a weird guy.”
Edwards admits it did sting a little bit more to drop his title to Muhammad, but in reality, he just laments his poor showing that night and the loss was going to hurt no matter who it came against.
“Because it was Belal [it was worse] but like I said, a loss is a loss,” Edwards said. “It could have been whoever to be honest. It doesn’t really matter who it was. I feel like I’m much better than my last fight was and that’s all it was. It was more on my behalf than anybody else.
“Like I said, I hate to lose and it’s proven by my record and proven my how much I’ve won in the UFC. It is what it is right now. I’m just focused on the next chapter right now.”
If all goes well at UFC London, Edwards undoubtedly puts himself in position to potentially compete for the title again while Muhammad is preparing for a showdown against Jack Della Maddalena in the main event at UFC 315 in May.
Edwards actually spent weeks preparing for Della Maddalena, who was his original opponent for the card on Saturday until the Australian welterweight was pulled to face Muhammad following an injury suffered by No. 1 ranked contender Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Truth be told, Edwards actually favors Della Maddalena slightly in that title fight, but there’s no denying that eventually getting the chance to reclaim the title from Muhammad would mean more to him.
“It would definitely mean more to me to take it back from Belal,” Edwards said. “I feel like it’s a close fight him and Jack. Jack’s got good scrambles. He’s easily taken down, but he’s good scrambling back to his feet. I feel like his boxing is better than Belal’s. If I had to favor somebody, I’d probably favor Jack in that fight. But let’s see.
“I’m not rooting for none of them to be honest with you. I’d love for it to be Belal so I can get the belt back from Belal, but if it’s not, it’s not. I don’t give a shit who wins or loses. That’s where I’m at.”
