Leon Edwards says he didn't intentionally eye-poke Belal Muhammad at UFC Fight Night 187: "My finger kind of like touched"
Leon Edwards aims to defend his welterweight gold for the third time when he goes to war against Belal Muhammad in the main event of UFC 304 next weekend. The pair previously clashed in the main event of UFC Fight Night 187 in 2021. While 'Rocky' won the first round, the bout was ultimately ruled a no-contest after an accidental eye poke rendered 'Remember the Name' unable to continue.
The welterweight champion discussed the incident on UFC 304 Countdown, 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... The way he was crying out to end the fight, I actually thought I went into his eyeball, but I didn't. It kind of went, like, just under his lid... Skill for skill, I was the better man."
Muhammad also discussed the eye poke in the clip, sharing a different view than Edwards:
"For myself, I literally thought I was, like, blind. I've had eye injuries. I had to have surgery on my eye before that multiple times and I was like my vision is all gone... My biggest thing was I just lost my opportunity. I was like literally breaking down and I didn't care about being blind. It was like I lost my opportunity... You're the one who injured me, so as a man, you'd want to run it back, but he's not a man, he's a coward."
Check out Leon Edwards' comments on his eye-poke against Belal Muhammad at UFC Fight Night 187 below (starting at the 11:35 mark):
The No.2-ranked welterweight claimed that Leon Edwards did not like what he felt and did not want to be in the octagon with him. He claimed that the welterweight champion has been running since their last matchup over three years ago.
Leon Edwards hired a sleep cycle specialist ahead of Belal Muhammad clash
Leon Edwards is expected to enter the octagon around 5:30 a.m. local time when he faces Belal Muhammad in the main event of UFC 304. The welterweight champion revealed that he hired a sleep cycle specialist to help deal with the unusual start time.
Speaking to Tom Aspinall, who will defend his interim heavyweight title against Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event, 'Rocky' discussed his training regimen, stating:
"It's like sleep in the day and be awake at night, but then when I spoke to the guy, he was like, 'You can't do that because you need your body to see sunlight, you need daylight. You don't have to train at five in the morning, you get your body used to about 1, 2 o'clock in the morning and after that, you should be fine.'
"When we fight at 11 o'clock, do we train at 11 o'clock? No, I'm done by 6 p.m. in my house, so it's just moving the clock a little bit, hour by hour."
Check out Leon Edwards' comments below:
UFC 304 will get off to a late start locally due to a scheduling issue. The early preliminary card will begin at 11:00 p.m. local time, while the preliminary card kicks off at 1:00 a.m. The main card is expected to begin around 3:00 a.m.