Former UFC Welterweight Champion, Leon Edwards opens up about his poor condition and the stressful factors surrounding his loss against Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 held on July 27, 2024, live in Manchester, England. The loss cost the Jamaican-British fighter his title as the welterweight champion, passing it onto the American UFC Welterweight fighter, now champion, Belal Muhammad.

Edwards’ head coach, Dave Lovell, also speaks about the odd timings of the match which were fixed at 5 am local time, scheduled to cater to US viewers, contributed to ‘slow’ reactions and compromised visibility which were a major contributing factor towards his loss. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but I take nothing from Belal,” Lovell remarks on The Ariel Helwani Show, making it known that their disappointments are directed towards the odd match time.

Matt Brown’s Take on Leon Edwards‘ Statements

The retired UFC Welterweight and a UFC star, Matt Brown sympathizes with Leon Edwards’ loss in an episode of The Fighter vs The Writer, claiming that the struggles Edwards faced that night are relatable across fighters in the sport and is a shared experience. Brown also adds that while the reasons may be entirely genuine, listing these reasons after the outcome is not a good look and might sound like excuses.

“I understand where Leon’s coming from, especially being in his home country,” says Brown. “He’s certainly accustomed to a certain rhythm, a routine of sleeping and waking. Belal coming from another country, there’s some excitement and everything’s new. The time zone is new.

You’re going to be adjusting to the time zone regardless.”
Drawing from his own experiences, the retired fighter states that while factors like odd timings and lost sleep affecting a fighter’s performance are real, influencing the outcome, publicly voicing them out can be seen as making excuses and that dealing with such external factors is part of being a fighter.

“You just don’t speak it out loud, in my opinion. Believe me, I’m not trying to make it about myself, but speaking on my own experience, every loss I’ve ever had I could give you legitimate reasons why it happened. There’s very few where you walk away, and the guy was simply better than me. There’s reason that goes into every time. You know that you could have done it. When you say it out loud, it’s an excuse.”

Leon Edwards is set to fight against Sean Brady on March 22, 2025 at UFC Fight Night 225, in London, England and is scheduled at a reasonable time. This fight could be Edwards’ chance at redeeming his name, with an opportunity to fight for title contention and backing his statements made after his loss to Muhammed, making it clear whether it was an excuse or really a genuine mishap.