Main Event Spotlight | UFC 304: Edwards vs Muhammad 2

“You’re the one who injured me,” Muhammad said directed towards Edwards. “So, as a man, you’d want to run it back, but he’s not a man. He’s a coward and he didn’t like what he felt in there and he didn’t want to be in there with me. He’s been running since then.”

Edwards moved on quickly, headlining his second card in three months against Nate Diaz. Despite a late scare in the fifth round, Edwards dominated Diaz to earn a shot at UFC gold. At UFC 278 in August of 2022, Edwards permanently etched his name in UFC history by finishing Kamaru Usman with a Knockout of the Year-earning head kick late in the final round to claim the welterweight title.

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He then defended his title twice in 2023, once in a rematch against Usman and another over Colby Covington to close out the last pay-per-view of the year and extend his unbeaten streak to 13, which is the third longest among active UFC fighters. The 32-year-old now sits atop his throne awaiting a familiar foe in Muhammad, who’s relentlessly blazed through five straight opponents to earn the rematch he’s so fervently desired.

“Remember The Name” comes into his first title fight riding a 10-fight unbeaten streak, which is tied for the fifth longest among active UFC fighters across all weight divisions. Since his first fight with Edwards, Muhammad has earned dominant unanimous decision victories over former title challengers Gilbert Burns, Stephen Thompson and Damien Maia, collected a second round TKO over the highly touted Sean Brady and avenged his 2016 loss to Vicente Luque.

While many fans view UFC 304’s headliner as a striker vs grappler matchup, Muhammad has slowly become one of the most prolific strikers in UFC welterweight history. His 1,173 significant strikes landed ranks him eighth all-time at 170 pounds. He’s also coming off his best striking performance in terms of sheer volume with 132 significant strikes landed against Burns. 

READ MORE: Rematch Timeline: Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad

When it comes to volume, Muhammad has the edge over the champion, landing 4.55 strikes per minute compared to Edwards’ 2.75 strikes, which falls below the UFC average (3.46 strikes landed per minute). But “Rocky’s” technique is as good as it gets, and it’s shown over the course of his almost decade long UFC career; Edwards has landed 53.5 percent of his significant strike attempts over that time.  

Despite Muhammad only landing 43.1 percent of his attempted strikes, he still puts a relentless pace on his opponents, forcing them to move backwards even if not every punch is landing. As his opponents start to get tired, Muhammad steps his foot on the gas even more and his shots become increasingly more effective.

When it comes to their grappling, it’s not as night and day as you may think. Muhammad does land more takedowns on average per 15 minutes (1.98-1.25), but they nearly have the same amount of success when attempting a takedown, with Muhammad having a very slight edge at 35.1 percent compared to “Rocky’s” 34.8 percent. 

The most compelling stat that jumps off the page is Muhammad’s 93.3 percent takedown defense, which sits just below the UFC record of 95 percent. It will be interesting to see if Edwards, who secured two takedowns against a known wrestler in Covington, will attempt one against someone with such a high caliber defense.

In terms of power, Edwards has a very slight edge over Muhammad on paper. The champion lands 0.26 knockdowns per 15 minutes compared to the UFC average of 0.31. But let’s not forget Edwards does have the potential to shut the lights off at any second, as seen when he dethroned an all-time great with less than a minute to go in the fifth round via head kick. Muhammad has yet to land a knockdown in his UFC career, but what better time to get his first than his first UFC title fight in the main event of UFC 304 in Manchester.