Muhammad wrestles away Edwards’ UFC crown

Muhammad wrestles away Edwards’ UFC crown: At UFC 304 in Manchester, England, a 14-fight card featured two rematches of title fights. Belal Muhammad ousted Leon Edwards to turn into the new welterweight champion. In the co-main event, Tom Aspinall quickly defeated Curtis Blaydes, establishing his status as one of the world’s best strikers. Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale, and Jeff Wagenheim offer their final thoughts to help make sense of everything.

Leon Edwards was all set to give a stellar performance. After witnessing Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett, two other local heroes, score rousing first-round finishes, the fans at Co-op Live arena were fully awake and prepared to cheer on a show even though it was early into Sunday morning and the sun was still setting.

However, edwards didn’t send local people home blissful. It wasn’t just on the grounds that he lost his UFC welterweight title to Belal Muhammad. In Manchester, the sun was rising when the decision was read, but the building’s energy had already diminished. The headliner had essentially worked out with the challenger in predominant situations on the material or in secures, as he stacked up throughout 12 minutes of control time. Muhammad never genuinely undermined a completion, yet he offered Edwards minimal chance for a major exhibition and the English fans little motivation to cheer.

This was definitively the very thing that Muhammad had said he planned to do. In any case, it appeared to be far-fetched, considering that Edwards’ beyond three battles had been major areas of strength for against – – Kamaru Usman two times and Colby Covington – – and the winner had generally kept those battles standing, where he is generally risky. In any event, when Edwards and Muhammad initially met in 2021, in a session that finished right off the bat in Cycle 2 as a no-challenge after an eye jab delivered Muhammad unfit to proceed, Edwards had kept the battle in places where he could get its better.

This time, no. The soon-to-be-dethroned champion was unable to generate consistent offense, even though Edwards had a big third round, landing a takedown early and threatening a submission until the bell. In the final round, he turned around and landed a late elbow that left Muhammad’s face bloody. He has just lost his title.

So presently Muhammad is the furthest down the line everyman to claim a UFC belt, continuing in the strides of folks, for example, Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, warriors who put on title winning exhibitions yet come up short on star power the UFC metal pines for. Muhammad merits every one of the honors for this triumph, however will those awards come his direction?

Edwards has never exactly been welcomed by the UFC’s star-building machine. So amazing good fortune to Muhammad, who had held up quite a while prior to being offered his chance. Before he could get a date with Edwards, he had to go ten fights without losing. He made the most of it on this night, but even if it hadn’t been in front of his opponent’s home fans and in the wee hours of the morning, the smothering manner in which he won his title would have made this fight a letdown. — Wagenheim

Solidness: All Aspinall required was one moment to vindicate the solitary flaw on his UFC record by obliterating Blaydes. Aspinall has no one else to fight besides Ciryl Gane who could be considered a legitimate threat.

Aspinall has eliminated the top heavyweights with little to no resistance, with the exception of his injury-related TKO defeat. None of Aspinall’s previous three fights against Blaydes, Sergei Pavlovich, or Marcin Tybura lasted longer than 90 seconds, for a total of three minutes and 22 seconds. Aspinall entered the Octagon with a typical battle season of 2:10, the briefest in UFC history. He will increase his lead after the sixty seconds it took to eliminate Blaydes.

All things considered, Jones has each option to overlook the cancel and ride toward the distant horizon when he apparently beats Stipe Miocic in November. Given that he has much more to lose than to gain in a fight with Aspinall, it probably won’t affect his status as the best mixed martial artist.

Notwithstanding, if he needs to demonstrate that he’s as yet the best warrior on the planet, Jones should answer the hardest test of his UFC profession against a greater, faster and more powerful man is greater, quicker and more impressive than anyone he has at any point imparted an Octagon to.

As significant as a fight between Jones and Francis Ngannou was initially thought to be, Aspinall’s threat has eclipsed that, making Jones-Aspinall the most significant fight in the UFC, other than anything Conor McGregor fights.

Okamoto: This is the way you realize Pimblett has gone about his business with regards to getting individuals to think often about him – – the eruptions to his exhibitions.

It appeared as though pundits and fans alike were eager to get off the bandwagon when he defeated Jared Gordon in a fight that many had scored for Gordon. The “overrated” narrative grew as he failed to finish Tony Ferguson, a veteran. And afterward, after one (though) incredible accommodation triumph over Ruler Green, out of nowhere web-based entertainment is overwhelmed with “Paddy is the genuine article” remarks?

With each Pimblett performance, the sport as a whole swings way too far. What did he accomplish on Saturday that we had no idea he could? We are aware of his perilous ground game. We realize he will in general ascent up when the spotlight is at its most splendid. This isn’t to make light of his past endeavors. Actually, the exact opposite.

It was the best success of his UFC vocation to date. But why are we treating it as if it revealed something to us that we were unaware of? I and I believe the UFC were aware that Pimblett had the ability to perform in this manner. The highest point of the division is as yet going to be extreme for Pimblett. It was continuously going to be. The subject of how far he can go is still out there. Also, maybe for some, this last exhibition shows he’s seriously, yet I was almost completely sure, hopefully not by mistake, that we definitely realized he was.