Muhammad’s wrestling not high-level enough for Edwards

Kamaru Usman picks Leon Edwards to beat Belal Muhammad at UFC 304.

Edwards (21-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) defends his welterweight title in a rematch against Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) within the July 27 foremost event at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.

Usman has lost to Edwards twice in championship fights, but each contests were competitive. The previous welterweight champion just doesn’t see Muhammad having the power to regulate Edwards on the bottom.

“I might say I like Belal, but I believe Leon (will win),” Usman said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo. “Wrestling is just not enough. The game has modified a lot to where guys are learning the way to use the cage to rise up. It’s not even really wrestling anymore, because in the event you take a man down up near the cage, they’re going to make use of the cage and so they’re going to get back to the feet.

“Guys are getting really, really good at that. … And Belal Muhammad, I don’t feel, is a high enough level of a wrestler to take him right down to the middle of the cage and keep him down there and win the fight there. Belal, his level is unquestionably up there now to where he can switch stance. He can fight out of each stances. He mixes it up, and he knows the way to control his pace. That’s the most important thing. You saw it within the Burns fight: He knows the way to control his pace.”

Edwards was in a position to fend off Colby Covington’s wrestling for essentially the most part to notch his second title defense at UFC 296. Although Usman thinks Muhammad manages his pace higher than Edwards, he doesn’t think it’ll be enough.

“It is a very intriguing fight,” Usman said. “But Leon just being the champion, and being confident in being the champion, I believe he’s going to be sharp.”

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