This thrilling fight will see Edwards and Muhammad face off to get closer to the title fight. Initially, Edwards and rising star, Khamzat Chimaev were scheduled to fight, however Chimaev fell ill to CO-VID19 and pulled out at the last minute.
Belal Muhammad stepped up to replace Chimaev and will now go up against third-ranked welterweight UFC fighter, Leon Edwards. The card switch isn’t a huge impact, with Muhammad ranked 13 in the division — just one spot ahead of Chimaev.
However for Muhammad it will mean that there will less preparation time to be fight ready in his first UFC headliner. Recently he co-headlined at UFC 258 where he defeated Dhiego Lima by unanimous decision. He’s now on a four fight win streak, which includes victories over Curtis Millender, Takashi Sato, and Lyman Good.
Edwards, meanwhile, is chasing for a title fight with Kumaru Usman, who recently won and held onto his championship belt against Gilbert Burns in UFC 258.
Prior to this matchup Edwards has bagged eight straight victories from his latest fights, despite not competing since July 2019. Of these fights he’s notably beaten Rafael Dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone. Most of his victories were also via unanimous decisions.
If Edwards defeats Muhammad, Usman will likely be his next opponent and take his total victories to nine. Can he do it again?
To round out the card, Ricardo Ramos and Zubaira Tukhugov will co-headline in a featherweight bout. The former Fight Night Global featherweight champion, Tukhogov, will re-enter the Octagon six months later after a split decision loss to Hakeem Dawodu. Ramos, meanwhile, will look to build his UFC profile after notable Octagon appearances, including an impressive knockout over Aiemann Zahabi.
MAIN CARD
Heavyweight Bout
Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad
UNDER CARD
Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Matheus Nicolau