[autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] is confident he stops [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] at UFC 304.
Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) rematches welterweight champion Edwards (21-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) in the July 27 main event at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
Muhammad had to go on a 10-fight unbeaten streak to finally earn his shot at a UFC title. Having beaten numerous specialists during his run, Muhammad feels prepared to have a breakout performance against Edwards.
“Honestly, I think I go in there and knock him out,” Muhammad said in an interview with Sneako. “When I look at my last stylistic matchups, I fought the best striker in the UFC in (Stephen) ‘Wonderboy’ (Thompson). I fought the best grappler in the UFC in Demian Maia.
“I fought great finishers in Vicente Luque. I fought Gilbert Burns on three weeks’ notice. I think all those fights added up to this one fight – like I said, God’s plan. … All those things, they just leveled me up.”
Muhammad sees himself having a similar performance to the one he had at UFC 280, where he finished Sean Brady by TKO to hand him his first-career loss.
“I think right now, I’m the best version of myself,” Muhammad said. “And I think that Leon’s going to get in there, him and his team there in Manchester, they’re going to be surprised. They’re going to be in for a rude awakening.
“People will say whatever they want to say, but my last full camp I knocked out Sean Brady. Gilbert Burns fight was a three weeks’ notice fight. So if we’re going off my last full camp, it was a knockout. This fight, I’m going to knock out Leon Edwards. We’ve been training for this guy for two years.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.