On this edition of The Alternative Sport Show, Matthew Connell chats to UFC’s British 3rd ranked Welterweight Leon “Rocky” Edwards about his up coming bout UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad on March 13th 2021.
Leon Edwards is one of UFC’s most talented and possibly underrated fighters in the company with a 18-3 record, his previous loss was back in 2015 against the current champion Kamaru Usman. Edwards last fight was in July 2019 vs Rafael Dos Anjos, and with the current pandemic it had caused his original planned London O2 Arena headliner vs Tyron Woodley back in March 2020 to be called off.
Leon Edwards was then scheduled to face division upstart and star of ‘Fight Island’ Hamzat Chimaev, not once but twice. Both fights suffered from covid-19 which ultimately cancelled the bout, especially after Chimaev’s case of of the Coronavirus considered to be “long covid” and leaving him unable to even fulfil a full training camp.
After a whole list of call outs from Stephen Wonderboy Thompson to Nate Diaz, Chicago born Belal Muhammad stepped up short notice to take on the fight after a UFC 258 victory in Feb 2021 vs Dhiego Lima. Belal also with an 18-3 MMA record makes this new battle all the more intriguing for the fans of UFC.
Matthew and Leon discuss a range of topics such as the consideration of ring rust, avenging the Jorge Masvidal “3 piece and a soda” fight backstage at UFC Fight Night London, taking on Kamaru Usman, and what does Nate Diaz even want next in the UFC?