After an already intense Fight Week, you might have cut the strain with a knife at this evening’s UFC 304 pre-fight press conference.
If the fan excitement and pre-fight press conference is anything to go by; UFC 304 this weekend should deliver one of the vital energetic and intense nights in British MMA history – even whether it is being held in the midst of the night.
Belal Muhammad claims he’ll ‘torture’ Leon Edwards at UFC 304
Earlier within the week, Belal Muhammad made headlines when he suggested that slightly than getting a finish over Edwards, either by KO/TKO or submission, he’d prefer to “torture” him over 25 grueling minutes.
“I need to torture him, I need him to comprehend how significantly better I’m than him,” the veteran welterweight told reporters, explaining how “Once you go on the market and get a finish, persons are like, ‘Oh, you bought lucky, it happened due to that.’
“[But] I’ll go on the market and dominate him and beat him in all features of MMA – wrestling, grappling, striking, jiu-jitsu, get him to the purpose of creating him wish to quit. I need to torture him.”
Leon Edwards fires back at ‘deluded’ Muhammad at pre-fight press conference
Unsurprisingly, those comments didn’t go over too well with Leon Edwards, and it was a mere matter of seconds before the 2 began arguing on stage on the UFC 304 pre-fight press conference this evening.
“When has he ever tortured anybody? The guy is deluded – he’s the identical guy who says he strikes like Canelo [Alvarez],” stated Edwards, referencing a moment on the UFC Embedded series where Muhammad’s striking coach compared his skills to the legendary Mexican boxer.
The conversation then quickly turned to the ‘elevator incident’ from earlier within the week, where the 2 teams bumped into one another and had a very tense staredown, with Muhammad later claiming that he’d “smelled fear” from the British champion.
“It ain’t about intimidation, it’s about standing in front of me and me hitting him in his mouth – but he’s going to be real intimidated after we’re within the cage together and that’s all that matters.
“I used to be like a bear within the woods, I smelled the fear in him,” the title challenger stated, before taking aim at the broader Rocky team: “The identical way I smelled the fear in his team, his brother, and his coach – ey, where’s that little b**** at, I can’t see him anymore.”
Because the boos from the gang got louder and louder, Muhammad took the chance to deal with the infamously hostile audience; the overwhelming majority of whom might be firmly on the side of ‘Rocky’ come Saturday night.
“It doesn’t matter. All this energy doesn’t really mean anything – I need you guys to present him some confidence because Saturday night, your boy is getting Headshot Dead!
“I need you guys to wake this guy up, you’re going to be his alarm clock.”
To his credit, Edwards then took the calmer approach, teasing how being so emotionally invested within the fight might be detrimental to Muhammad when the cage door locks behind him.
“100%, he’s too slow anyway but now he’s like angry-tense, he’s going to fall into traps – ey, you’re going to get knocked the f*** out bro, but that [already]. Too small, too slow, you’re getting knocked out.”
It was much of the identical back-and-forth for the rest of the press conference, although things definitely ramped up when the pair squared off for the primary time since 2021 – Edwards lunging forward to get in Muhammad’s face, who in turn barely moved.
On condition that each Muhammad and Edwards have been criticized by fans up to now for being ‘boring’ and never bringing out one of the best in themselves regarding the promotional side of the MMA industry, it must be said that each fighters are definitely making UFC 304 fight week an entertaining affair.
With the strain being raised one other several notches because of the pre-fight press conference, be sure that you’re turned in for the ceremonial weigh-ins tomorrow, July 26, live from Manchester.
A reminder that as of July 25, the UFC 304 fight order is as follows – the flyweight bout between Mokaev and Kape has reportedly been moved down from the most important card to the prelims, and down again the approach to the early prelims.
- Shauna Bannon vs Alice Ardelean
- Mick Parkin vs Lukasz Brzeski
- Sam Patterson vs Kiefer Crosbie
- Manel Kape vs Muhammad Mokaev
- Oban Elliot vs Preston Parsons
- Modestas Bukauskas vs Marcin Prachnio
- Jake Hadley vs Caolan Loughran
- Molly McCann vs Bruna Brasil
- Nathaniel Wood vs Daniel Pineda
- Arnold Allen vs Giga Chikadze
- Christian Leroy Duncan vs Gregory Rodrigues
- King Green vs Paddy Pimblett
- Tom Aspinall vs Curtis Blaydes
- Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad
UFC 304 goes down this Saturday, July 27, live from the Co-op Arena in Manchester, England.
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