5 reasons why you need to watch UFC Vegas 21: Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad
UFC Vegas 21 takes place this weekend at the UFC’s APEX facility. In the main event, Leon Edwards faces Belal Muhammad.
UFC Vegas 21 clearly isn’t as big a card as last weekend’s marquee UFC 259 show, but there are still plenty of reasons to watch.
With a lot of exciting fighters on offer from top to bottom, here are five reasons why you need to watch UFC Vegas 21: Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad.
#5 Leon Edwards could be a future UFC Welterweight title challenger
UFC Vegas 21’s main event of Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad isn’t as alluring a fight as Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev would’ve been.
However, that doesn’t mean that the fight isn’t worth watching.
Edwards and Muhammad aren’t the most prolific finishers in the UFC, and their fights tend to go the distance. However, with Edwards’ all-round skills and Muhammad’s penchant for pushing the pace, this one should still be an exciting bout.
More to the point, Edwards should be at the stage now where any fight he’s involved in is worth watching.
‘Rocky’ is probably the most underrated fighter in the UFC’s Welterweight division. The Birmingham, England native hasn’t lost a fight since 2015 against current UFC welterweight kingpin Kamaru Usman.
Edwards can do it all in the octagon, whether he’s standing, on the ground or in the clinch. And over the past half-decade, few fighters have been as consistent as he has been.
If ‘Rocky’ can use Muhammad’s aggression against him and finish ‘Remember the Name’ on Saturday, it could be a coming-out party for him while also netting him a shot at Usman’s UFC Welterweight crown.
That alone makes this fight a must-see.
#4 Misha Cirkunov is a one-man wrecking crew
Outside of the main event, the most intriguing bout at UFC Vegas 21 is the light heavyweight clash between Misha Cirkunov and Ryan Spann.
The two men are among a new breed of 205lbs fighters making their way up the ladder in the UFC. Of the two, it’s Cirkunov who has really made his mark thus far.
The Latvian-Canadian is 6-3 in the UFC thus far, and none of his fights have gone the distance.
The fact that he’s been stopped by strikes three times should give Spann some hope, but in reality, he’s up against an extremely dangerous fighter here.
Cirkunov is arguably the best grappler in the UFC light heavyweight division.
A heavily muscled fighter with brutal takedowns and a ridiculous squeeze, Cirkunov has submitted the likes of Ion Cutelaba, Jimmy Crute and Patrick Cummins in the octagon.
If he can pick up another impressive win over Spann this weekend, then it’s likely he’ll be considered for title contention very soon.
And even if he doesn’t win, judging by his past results, this fight isn’t likely to go the distance – so don’t blink.
#3 Dan Ige almost guarantees fireworks
Nobody is going to mistake Hawaii’s Dan Ige for a knockout artist any time soon. After all, ‘Dynamite’, who is 6-2 in the UFC, has only stopped one of his opponents thus far.
However, Ige is almost certainly one of the most exciting fighters to watch in the UFC’s featherweight division.
Primarily a striker, Ige doesn’t back down for a second when he’s inside the octagon. Even when he’s faced adversity – as he did against Edson Barboza and Mirsad Bektic – the Hawaiian simply keeps marching forward, swinging bombs.
But ‘Dynamite’ is no crude brawler. Sure, he’ll throw down with his opponent, but he’s also a strong technical striker, and no mug on the ground either should a fight go there.
His opponent at the weekend – Gavin Tucker – is equally adept at striking, and is on a three-fight win streak in the UFC.
So when you consider Ige’s history of exciting fights, you can probably expect fireworks from this clash.
#2 Angela Hill will look to show her improvements in her rematch with Ashley Yoder
UFC Vegas 21’s preliminary card isn’t heavy on name value, but one well-known fighter competing at it is Strawweight contender Angela Hill.
‘Overkill’ had a tricky time in 2020, losing to both Claudia Gadelha and Michelle Waterson, but in a way she achieved plenty, too.
Most observers thought she deserved the nod in her fight with Gadelha. Her fight with Waterson also made her the first African-American woman to headline a UFC show.
Hill has been around the UFC for a long time now, first debuting in 2014. And while her UFC record of 7-9 isn’t the strongest, she’s basically fought a who’s who of the Strawweight division.
Interestingly, she’s already faced her opponent this weekend – Ashley Yoder – in the octagon before.
The earlier fight between the two saw ‘Overkill’ win a unanimous decision, but while she outstruck ‘The Spider Monkey’, she did give up the second round due to her weak takedown defense.
That’s a weakness that Hill has worked hard to improve on in recent years, and she now possesses a much-improved wrestling game.
That could give her the edge on Yoder again this weekend – and also allow her to open up on her opponent, giving her the finish she failed to achieve in their first meeting.
#1 A future UFC Flyweight title contender could be on offer
One fight at UFC Vegas 21 that seems to be flying under the radar is the flyweight bout between Matheus Nicolau and Manel Kape.
That’s understandable when you consider that Kape is 0-1 in the UFC while Nicolau hasn’t fought in the octagon since 2018.
But look beneath the surface, and these two fighters could well be future UFC Flyweight Championship contenders.
Nicolau is a huge man for 125lbs, and he’s one of the best grapplers the division has to offer. In fact, he outmuscled both Louis Smolka and John Moraga – strong grapplers in their own right – inside the octagon.
And he’s also one of a handful of fighters to win a UFC bout via the rare Japanese necktie submission.
Kape, meanwhile, is a striker of some renown, with nine finishes by KO or TKO on his 15-5 ledger.
And ‘Prodigio’ showed flashes of brilliance in his UFC debut, even if it ended in defeat at the hands of one of the UFC’s better flyweights, Alexandre Pantoja.
Overall, this fight is likely to be one of the weekend’s most exciting – and due to the ceiling of both fighters, it could prove to be important for the future of the UFC Flyweight division too. Therefore it’s well worth watching.