Coach Conversation | Edwards vs Muhammad 2

Kyte: This is one of those fights we’ve been circling for a while, and two athletes we’ve seen thrive a great deal over the last several years. We know what they each bring to the table, but what are the best traits of each fighter?

Order UFC 304: Edwards vs Muhammad 2

Madden: Let’s start with Belal because it’s a little easier.

I would have to say it’s his tenacity, and he’s really gonna need it this fight. It’s his ability, at times when he wants to really press like he did in the (Sean) Brady fight and keep his foot on the gas the entire time is not only one of his better qualities, but it’s also gonna be his path to victory in this fight.

For Leon, as a striking coach, I’m always paying attention to that first, but it’s the fact that he has so many tools in his toolbox; so many great long-range weapons, so many great close-range weapons with the knees and the elbows. To me, I think Leon does a fantastic job of controlling space — his range-management is phenomenal — so for me it’s his diversity of tools on the feet.

I would add a close second that isn’t necessarily a technical one, and it's his composure. To be able to find the head kick against (Kamaru) Usman late into a 25-minute fight requires an elite-level, high-level of composure in order to pull a win out like that. I would add that as a close second, but his toolbox with the striking is going to be his best trait for me.

Kyte: In terms of cultivating that gas tank, that ability to press, is that just conditioning? Is it just that you’ve got to do the miles and do them over and over in order to deepen that tank?

Madden: That’s definitely part of it — and we’ll get to it in a little bit when we get to Belal’s path to victory, because it’s a lot of that for 25 minutes — but it’s also a mentality.

It’s the mentality of “we’re gonna dive into this water as deep as possible and see who is willing to stay down here the longest,” and knowing that you’re willing to stay down there until the other guy has to go up for air. A large part of that is conditioning, but I do know good athletes with good gas tanks that will still break under that type of pressure.

A large part of fighting is controlling the pace and the tempo of a fight, and if you’re getting pushed at a tempo you’re not used to going at, you’re gonna gas a lot faster than you normally do.

ATHLETE PROFILES: Leon Edwards | Belal Muhammad

Kyte: And then on the composure side with Leon, is there a risk of a guy that can be that composed, that is that good, settling in a little too much?

I think of the Colby (Covington) fight and it was — not that it was ever close, but it wasn’t a blowout in the way a lot of people thought it would be. It feels like Leon is a guy where he knows he’s better than you, so he kind of does enough to get past you, but he’s not putting it on you the way some guys will.

Do you see the same thing and how do you navigate away from it, because that feels like a really dangerous, really slippery slope where next thing you know, you think you’re cruising and the judges see something a little different and it’s even going into the fifth round?

Madden: This is going to be part of the X factor with Leon, because we’re coming off three fights with Usman — one of the best welterweights of all time — and Covington — who has been at the top of that division for a while — and now we’re fighting Belal.

No knock against Belal — he’s on a great streak, but I don’t know that his name rings out in the same manner as those two guys he just fought. You could almost consider this a step down in competition, which also becomes dangerous; you’re less concerned about the opponent, so you’re gonna fight down to the level of your opponent instead of fighting to the level I know I’m capable of and going for the finish.

I do worry about that because composure can work both ways. If you’re overly composed, it turns into complacency, and then all of a sudden, a guy like Belal, who is not going to squander this opportunity and his main path to winning is to be in your face the entire time, he’s snatching rounds from you.

You look up and it’s 2-1 or 3-0 and you’ve got to go back and pull a rabbit out of the hat like you did against Usman.

If I was Leon, that would be the one thing I was worried about: all of a sudden, Belal is up on the scorecards and he’s racking up round-after-round, just doing enough to out-work you because you’re keeping these rounds a little too close because you’re a little too complacent, because you’re not really worried about the threat.

Kyte: If you’re each fighter, how do you look at the first five minutes that has happened between them? How do you factor it in?

If I’m Leon, I’m full of confidence because as we saw and as we’ve talked about, you walked out, head kicked him, had him on skates; looked like you were cruising. At the same time, I understand — some of Belal’s side is you’ve got to pump your guy up and get him back into it, but it’s also factual: he hit you with the thing that finished Kamaru Usman, and you staggered, you were hurt, but you were fine by the end of the round.

READ MORE: Rematch Timeline: Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad

Madden: You’re exactly right and you nailed both sides of that. It is important to tell your fighter, “We survived the worst here; we got through that, but at the same time, we’ve got to make some adjustments to figure out how we’re gonna win this fight, because the wrestling wasn’t it and you’re losing this fight at range.”

It’s up to the corner to give Belal something tangible and figure out how to win this fight.

With Leon, I don’t think there is anything but confidence coming out of that corner afterwards. Even if you didn’t finish him with the first head kick, you staggered him badly and you know it’s available.

Something I’ve noticed in almost all of Belal’s fights is that he has a hard time dealing with kicks; he has a hard time dealing with high kicks, he has a hard time dealing with middle kicks, and in particular, he has a hard time dealing with it against southpaws. His arms get far from his body and we saw with Leon he over-reached.

Geoff Neal had a good time with that, Vicente Luque had a good time with that, and two of Belal’s three losses came against classic southpaws in Geoff Neal and Alan Jouban, and Luque was switching stances.

What I’ll be interested to see is if that happens again in the first couple rounds, is Leon going to come up a gear looking to finish the fight, or is he going to stay in that gear where he knows he can win and coast to a victory?

I need to see Leon as the champion move into the next gear; whether that’s four or five and finish the fight, really separate himself from Belal.

Madden: We’ve gotta look at Belal’s age now too, right?

Kyte: You’re up against a superior athlete, it’s been a little over a year since you’ve competed… it sucks that this is the way it is in this sport because you want to see some of these people that aren’t superior athletes succeed, but it’s not often meant to be.

Sometimes you just get out-athlete’ed, and I wonder if that’s what Belal is up against here. He can overcome it, but…

Madden:  It’s a big hill to ask him to climb, for sure.

Kyte: It’s gonna be interesting.

Madden: We’ll see, man. We’ve seen crazier upsets, for sure. It’s gonna be fun.