UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2

UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2.
A 14-fight card at UFC 304 in Manchester, England, was headlined by a pair of title bout rematches. Belal Muhammad dethroned Leon Edwards to become the new welterweight champion. In the co-main event, Tom Aspinall made quick work of Curtis Blaydes, leaving no doubt that he's one of the best strikers in the world. To make sense of it all, Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale and Jeff Wagenheim offer their final thoughts.

The stage was set for Leon Edwards to put on a starry performance. It was early into Sunday morning -- with the sun still down -- but the fans at Co-op Live arena were fully awake and ready to cheer on a show after just having watched two other local heroes, Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett, score rousing first-round finishes.

Edwards did not send the locals home happy, though. It wasn't simply because he lost his UFC welterweight championship to Belal Muhammad. By the time the decision was being read, the sun was rising in Manchester, but the energy in the building had already been deadened. The main event had primarily played out with the challenger in dominant positions on the canvas or in clinches, as he piled up over 12 minutes of control time. Muhammad never seriously threatened a finish, but he gave Edwards little opportunity for a big performance and the British fans little reason to cheer.

This was precisely what Muhammad had said he was going to do. But it seemed unlikely, given that Edwards' past three fights had been against strong wrestlers -- Kamaru Usman twice and Colby Covington -- and the champ had mostly kept those fights standing, where he is most dangerous. Even when Edwards and Muhammad first met in 2021, in a bout that ended early in Round 2 as a no-contest after an eye poke rendered Muhammad unable to continue, Edwards had kept the fight in positions where he could get the better of it.