Yahoo Sports Vicente Luque: Leon Edwards has ‘great wrestling cardio,’ more versatile striking than Belal Muhammad
Vicente Luque leans towards Leon Edwards beating 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) in the July 27 main event at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
Luque thinks Muhammad has made many improvements since his Round 2 no contest against Edwards in 2021. Having fought both Muhammad and Edwards – Muhammad twice, Luque gave insight into the title fight rematch.
“It’s a crazy fight,” Luque told MMA Junkie Radio. “If I go from their first fight which ended with that eye poke, I thought Leon was looking much better and he was beating Belal in that fight. But since then, I feel like Belal went building up a great streak. He’s been really, really sharpening up his tools and he knows the kind of fighter he is right now. He’s not a guy that makes many mistakes inside that octagon.”
Luque knocked out Muhammad in their first meeting in 2016, but Muhammad avenged his loss by outgrappling Luque when they ran things back in 2022.
Luque was also outgrappled by Edwards when they fought in 2017. He thinks the champion’s striking will eventually make the difference against Muhammad.
“For me, I’d say it’s really tied up,” Luque said. They both can really take the win. I would almost put it 50-50, but I’ll go a little bit with Leon just because I think Leon has more versatile striking and he does have some really precise shots, and that can change a fight. I know both of them wrestle really good. I feel like Leon has great wrestling cardio.
“In my fight, we wrestled a lot, and that’s how I ended up getting tired. After that he was just throwing his hands, boxing, and mixing it up with wrestling so, I think that little bit of experience, of ability from Leon, I would put him as a little bit of a favorite. But still, very close fight for me.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.
