Fresh off his impressive win over Dhiego Lima at UFC 258, Belal Muhammad has stepped up for the biggest opportunity of his career.
Muhammad is set to face Leon Edwards in a March 13 main event at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas. Muhammad is replacing Khamzat Chimaev, who withdrew from the event due to effects stemming from his December COVID-19 diagnosis.
The anticipated Edwards-Chimaev matchup had initially been scheduled for January but the same lingering health issues resulted in Chimaev pulling out of that event also.
Time to show the. #UFCVegas21 pic.twitter.com/1i3JhBZwuz
— UFC (@ufc) February 18, 2021
Muhammad (18-3) is the No. 13-ranked welterweight contender having won eight of his past nine fights.
Edwards also has an 18-3 pro MMA record but he has faced tougher UFC competition than Muhammad. The Birmingham, England native hasn’t fought since beating Rafael dos Anjos in July 2019 yet he remains the No. 3-ranked contender at 170 pounds. Edwards’s most recent loss was a unanimous decision to current champion Kamaru Usman back in 2015.
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