Dana White posts close-up image of nasty eye poke Belal Muhammad suffered against Leon Edwards at UFC Vegas 21
UFC President Dana White took to Twitter to post an image of the unfortunate eye-poke that Belal Muhammad received in his fight with Leon Edwards at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad.
The incident occurred in the second round of the fight. 'Rocky' went for a left cross-kick on his opponent. Belal Muhammad leaned into Leon Edwards, causing the latter's flailing and open left hand to ravage his eye.
As is visible in this extremely clear photo, the impact that Leon Edward's fingers had on Belal Muhammad's right eye was pretty ghastly. The contact made the Palestenian fighter scream and cry in pain, which he continued to do for a while. The officials had to persuade him to remain calm for the doctor to be able to check him.
The damage was severe enough for the fight to be called to a stop. Due to the unintentional nature of Leon's eye-poke, the fight was declared a no-contest by referee Herb Dean. Even as he stood in the middle of the Octagon for the post-fight announcement, Belal Muhammaad had a stream of blood flowing from his right eye due to the injury.
How was the fight between Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards progressing before being stopped?
The fight saw Leon Edwards returning after an almost 2-year long hiatus. On the other hand, Belal Muhammad fought only weeks ago in a spectacular victory over Dhiego Lima.
Thus, the popular notion coming into this fight was that Leon Edwards would face the issue of ring rust against a fighter as dominant and pressurizing as Belal Muhammad.
However, Leon Edwards stayed true to his claims of not being a believer of ring-rust. He took control of the octagon as soon as the fight started, taking the fight to 'Remember the Name' Muhammad. Edwards had his fair share of highlight moments in the first round. These include a left head kick which certainly rocked Belal.
Belal Muhammad's defense of Leon's strikes was sufficient for the most part, though not entirely effective. He, too, had his moments of note, which included an elbow strike while exiting a clinch with Leon Edwards.
Nevertheless, the first round definitely saw Leon Edwards in control of affairs. The fight would have been perhaps his final stepping stone in pursuit of a title shot. However, the no-contest leaves the future uncertain yet again for the British fighter, who was on an 8-fight win streak before stepping into the Octagon tonight.