Belal Muhammad has given his thoughts on the upcoming fight between Leon Edwards and Carlos Prates at UFC 322.
As we know, Leon Edwards is on a poor run of form as of late. He lost his UFC welterweight championship to Belal Muhammad and then in his next outing, he was beaten pretty comprehensively by Sean Brady.
At this point, Leon Edwards needs to go out there and prove that he's still as good as he has always been - or, at the very least, showcase that he's far more competent against natural strikers as opposed to wrestlers.
In a recent video, his former foe Belal Muhammad gave his thoughts on this bout.
Belal Muhammad’s view on Leon Edwards vs Carlos Prates
"Leon, coming off of two losses in a row, is in a very tough spot," Muhammad said on his YouTube channel. "You never want to be in a spot where you're on two losses in a row because we're going to see how bad he wants it. You don't get any easier fights when you're the champ.
"Every fight after that is still a tough fight. Every fight after that is still one shot, one win away from getting to a title fight. You're not getting an easy one with Prates. Prates is very long, he's a southpaw, he has great power, and he's very confident coming off of that spinning elbow."
"So for Leon, you just need to get back on your rhythm," Muhammad said. "Your last fight, you got taken down by Sean Brady. Before that, you got taken down by me. Now you're going against a striker, so this is more of your world. But I do think you need to implement striking.
"You need to go with kind of the game plan Ian Garry used of lateral movements, staying out of his power, staying out of his reach, using your kicks. He's going to be longer than you, and when he overextends, you take him down. We've seen you shoot, we've seen you wrestle, and we've seen you wrestle stupidly with Sean Brady. But with this one, you shoot a bad shot on Prates, he's not going to make you pay for it."
Quotes via MMA Junkie