Leon Edwards will be looking to earn a shot at the welterweight title when he takes on Belal Muhammad on Saturday as a heavy -275 betting favourite on the UFC odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Edwards has been idle since claiming a unanimous decision win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on ESPN 4, and is now unbeaten in eight straight fights going into Saturday night’s bout at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
The long layoff has not weakened Edwards’ position in the rankings, where he remains pegged as the No. 3 contender among UFC welterweights. And considering Edwards’ recent record, that ranking is well deserved. The 29-year-old needed just eight seconds to claim his first-ever UFC win and a Performance of the Night bonus at UFC Fight Night 164, ending Seth Baczynski’s night by knockout. And while he saw two of his first four trips to the octagon end in defeat, Edwards has regularly gotten the nod from the judges, with six of his past eight wins coming by decision.
Listed as a +215 underdog at online sports betting sites, Muhammad returns to action on Saturday vying for a fifth straight win. Muhammad is coming off a three-round unanimous decision win over Dhiego Lima as a -500 wager just four weeks ago at UFC 258.
Currently sitting at No. 13 on the UFC welterweight rankings, Muhammad has now seen eight of his past nine fights go the distance, with the lone exception being a third-round submission win over Takashi Sato as short -400 chalk at UFC 242. However, the 32-year-old has yet to see action in championship rounds in 12 outings since joining the UFC in 2015.
Elsewhere on the UFC Vegas 21 odds, Misha Cirkunov aims to win two in a row for the first time in over four years when the Toronto-based light heavyweight clashes with Ryan Spann as -135 chalk. Cirkunov earned his first career Performance of the Night bonus with his first-round submission win over Jimmy Crute at UFC Fight Night 158.
Cirkunov has now seen six straight fights end inside five minutes, but he has gone 3-3 during that stretch. Spann returns to action as a +105 underdog after seeing an eight-fight win streak get halted by a first-round knockout loss to Johnny Walker last fall at UFC Vegas 11.
As well, earlier in the evening Dan Ige is perched as -155 chalk ahead of his featherweight clash with Gavin Tucker, while Jonathan Martinez is listed as a heavy -310 favourite ahead of his matchup with fellow bantamweight Davey Grant.
[relatedlinks]
0:18
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.