No. 3 ranked UFC welterweight Leon Edwards made his first walk to the Octagon in 20 months but the fight ended by unfortunate circumstances.
“Rocky” headlined UFC Vegas 21 on Saturday night opposite No. 13 ranked Belal Muhammad. It was an important fight for both competitors, as an impressive victory could have landed Edwards a title shot and if Muhammad picked up the win, he would have propelled himself to the top of the 170-pound division.
However, there was no winner.
In the second round, Edwards unintentionally poked “Remember the Name” in the eye. It was a devastating foul that dropped Muhammad, who instantly became emotional. Muhammad was clearly in pain and told referee Herb Dean that he couldn’t see out of the eye. Dean then called off the fight and the main event was ruled a no-decision.
Watch the eye poke below:
"Sorry, Belal, brother. Sorry, brother."@Leon_edwardsmma apologized to @bullyb170 for the accidental eye poke that resulted in their #UFCVegas21 fight being declared a No Decison. pic.twitter.com/f9JtRM7jA8
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 14, 2021
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Edwards Gave His Take on the Situation During the Post-Fight Press Conference
“Heartbreaking, devastating, it’s been a long, long road to come back,” Edwards said during the post-fight presser. “And to come back to that is upsetting, to say the least.”
Rocky broke down the fight-ending exchange.
“I thought it was a punch,” Rocky said. “The combination I was throwing was a cross, head kick. As I threw the cross, he kind of stepped in to close the distance and then I seen him grab his eye and turned around. I thought it was a punch.”
“I wish Belal nothing but full recovery. It was an accident, I didn’t mean it. So, I wish him nothing but recovery.”
After the poke, Edwards didn’t think the fight would be stopped until he heard Muhammad getting emotional.
“When I seen him start crying, I was like, ‘S***, it must be bad.’
“You see a lot of eye pokes in MMA and you kind of take your five minutes to recover, you fight again. I was just getting into the flow of it. I felt great out there.”
Edwards said although it had been almost two years since he competed, he didn’t feel any ring rust inside the Octagon.
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