Dave Lovell, the pinnacle coach of Leon Edwards expects his fighter to defend his welterweight title in Manchester towards Belal Muhammad.
Edwards has not fought since UFC 296 in December when he beat Colby Covington by choice to defend his title. The Brit had been attempting to get a struggle, and he was reportedly supplied fights at UFC 300 towards Islam Makhachev, Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Khamzat Chimaev however none got here to fruition.
Now, chatting with talkSport, Lovell says Edwards will seemingly rematch Belal Muhammad subsequent day trip.
🚨 Leon Edwards’ head coach, Dave Lovell, says that Leon Edwards will ‘little question’ struggle in July in Manchester, and says he’s ‘99.9%’ positive that the opponent might be Belal Muhammad
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“The UFC is over right here in July, (there’s) little question Leon might be on that invoice. Unfortnately he couldn’t make the 300 invoice for no matter causes, the lads they put to him, Shavkat, Khamzat, Islam, they had been all fasting, we had been able to go. It’s what it’s. There’s a massive Muslim contingent in England in Manchester, so I believe it will likely be Belal, it’s not written in stone, however 99 (p.c) it will likely be Belal,” Lovell mentioned to talkSport.
Muhammad has been the No. 1 contender at welterweight since he defeated Gilbert Burns at UFC 288 in Might of 2023. Nevertheless, he had been sitting out ready for the title shot, but it surely seems it would work out for him as in line with Lovell, the rematch might be on the Manchester card in July.
Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad fought again in March of 2021 in the primary occasion of a Struggle Night time card on the Apex. Muhammad had stepped up on brief discover for the struggle, and the scrap led to a No Contest attributable to an accident eye poke from Edwards to Muhammad.
Since their first struggle, Edwards has gone 4-0 as he beat Nate Diaz, after which knocked out Kamaru Usman to win the belt. He has since defended the belt twice, beating Usman by majority choice and Covington by choice. Muhammad, in the meantime, is 5-0 since their struggle and has wins over Burns, Sean Brady, Vicente Luque, Stephen Thompson, and Demian Maia.