UFC veteran and Laura Sanko praise Belal Muhammad for his dominant performance against Leon Edwards at UFC 304
Few people — media included — expected Belal Muhammad to win the UFC welterweight title at UFC 304, causing many to give him high praise after his dominant win over Leon Edwards in the main event. Of those who gushed over his performance included UFC analysts Chael Sonnen and Laura Sanko.
After the win, Sonnen and Sanko were two of the four desk members breaking down the fight on the ESPN+ post-fight show, joining Brett Okamoto and Din Thomas. Both analysts could not give the challenger enough praise for his performance while repeating their shocked reaction to 'Remember the Name' outstriking Edwards.
Sonnen said:
"There was no element [of the fight] that Belal didn't win. He won the wrestling, he won the jiu-jitsu, he won the defensive — I couldn't believe he won the boxing... Leon fought great tonight. It just turns out Belal's better and I did not know that."
View Chael Sonnen and Laura Sanko's comments from ESPN MMA on YouTube below (2:10):
Sanko backed up Sonnen's take, saying:
"I was astounded by his ability to pressure. Absolutely astounded by his ability to walk Leon Edwards down because that's where I thought he would struggle... You said it best, Chael. His wrestling. He won the wrestling and he won the striking and the pressure game."
Per the official UFC stats, Muhammad landed 21 more significant strikes than Edwards and out-struck him for all but one round while also landing nine takedowns for 12:02 of control time.
Belal Muhammad joins elite company with win over Leon Edwards
With the win, Belal Muhammad extended his current unbeaten streak to 11, making it the fourth-longest in UFC welterweight history. Only Kamaru Usman, Leon Edwards and Georges St-Pierre own longer streaks, with Muhammad ending Edwards' 13-fight unbeaten run at UFC 304.
By defeating Edwards, Belal Muhammad took control of the longest active unbeaten streak in the division while also extending his win streak to six. In the 11 fights he has had since losing to Geoff Neal in 2019, the only outing that did not result in a win was the infamous no-contest against Edwards in 2021.