After a fairly timid performance against Colby Covington in his last outing, Alexander Volkanovski believes Leon Edwards is going to let his hands go when he steps inside the Octagon this Saturday night.
Emanating from Co-op Live in Manchester, ‘Rocky’ will put his welterweight world title on the line against top-ranked contender Belal Muhammad in the UFC 304 headliner.
After bringing the belt back to the UK via his shocking “kick heard ’round the world” against Kamaru Usman at UFC 278, Edwards defended the crown against the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ in an entertaining trilogy bout before offering up a somewhat uninspired, albeit successful showing against the aforementioned Colby Covington.
This time around, former featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski believes ‘Rocky’ will be more likely to let his hands go, giving fans something to feast on as he performs in front of his home country for the first time since his threequel with Usman.
“I think [Leon Edwards] is gonna let his hands go, which is gonna make him a lot more dangerous,” Volkanovski said in a video on his YouTube channel. “‘Cause when he does let his hands go, he’s good. Leon Edwards is really good. Even just watching his training, hitting pads. You can see there’s power in his kicks.”
Both UFC gold and a couple of impressive unbeaten streaks are on the line between Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad
Aside from UFC gold, a couple of long-standing win streaks will be on the line this Saturday night in the Capitol of the North. Leon Edwards enters the bout having won his last 12 fights dating back to a 2016 win over Dominic Waters.
Meanwhile, Belal Muhammad has built an impressive nine-fight win streak spanning the last five years. In his last four outings, he has bested Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, Vicente Luque, Sean Brady, and Gilbert Burns — all members of the welterweight top 15 with Thompson, Brady, and Burns residing in the top 10.
Their UFC 304 headliner will also serve as a rematch after their first meeting at a Fight Night event ended in the early moments of round two due to an inadvertent eye poke perpetrated by Edwards.
