Belal Muhammad wants a TUF coaching spot against Leon Edwards
Belal Muhammad has been rallying for a rematch against Leon Edwards ever since their fight at UFC Fight Night 187 was declared a no-contest.
The Welterweight now has a new plan to handle his unfinished business with Leon Edwards. 'Remember the Name' Muhammad took to Twitter to suggest an alternative event for himself and Leon Edwards to compete at. In his Tweet, Belal Muhammad wrote -
"So me and Leon coach the ultimate fighter ??!!"
With the new season of the popular show set to air soon, Belal Muhammad clearly feels he should be the coach against Leon Edwards in the future.
The bout between Belal Muhammad and 'Rocky' offered only one full round. However, in that first round, Leon Edwards managed to keep Muhammad on the backfoot as he mixed his strikes effortlessly and packed a huge amount of pressure. Nevertheless, Belal Muhammad did not concede to the pressure and kept his defense as efficient as possible.
Although Leon Edwards did connect with some strikes that could have been game-enders, Belal Muhammad stood his ground and didn't allow himself to go down. Leon Edwards even managed to rock Belal Muhammad with a nasty head kick, but the latter wasted no time regaining his wits and had his hands back up almost immediately.
It was another such kick that Leon Edwards went for in round two that ended in a bizarrely different result than anticipated. As Edwards executed the kick, his open left hand met Belal's right eye, as the latter leaned into him in an attempt to dodge the kick. This ended in a brutal eye poke. Belal Muhammad screamed in pain as the referee called the doctor to check on Belal.
Belal was deemed unfit to carry on, and owing to an accidental eye poke, the fight was declared a no-contest.
What was Belal Muhammad's message to Leon Edwards regarding their fight?
Both Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad left the UFC Apex Arena heartbroken on Saturday night. While Leon Edwards wanted to make his comeback after an almost two-year hiatus as dynamic as possible, Belal Muhammad had his chance to beat a top-three ranked fighter and saw this as his opening to a title shot.
In conversation with TMZ Sports, the American-Palestinian offered a message directed at Leon Edwards. He said -
"My message to him is: If you're a man, take the rematch. I literally took this fight on three weeks' notice, coming off a fight, coming off of injuries. [I] didn't care about them to give you the respect because I know you needed a fight, and you needed an opponent. I made championship weight to give you this fight. I promoted the fight. I pushed it. So, give me that respect, as a man, as a fighter, as a martial artist. So, let's do this. That wasn't a real win. That wasn't a real fight. We literally had one round. So, if you're a man, if you're a real contender, if you think you're a real champion, you've got to beat everybody. So, you've got to beat me and then earn your title shot."
Who do you think will emerge victorious if the rematch takes place? Let us know in the comments.