UFC Vegas 21: Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad ruled a No Contest after eye poke

UFC is coming back live this Sunday as Leon Edwards is set to square off against Belal Muhammad as the headline event of UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad, to be hosted at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.

The original main card of the event was supposed to be a welterweight clash between Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev, a bout which had been rescheduled twice already due to both fighters suffering from  COVID-19 troubles. The Edwards vs Chimaev clash was first set to be featured at   UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal in December last year, and was rescheduled to UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny in January.

Fighting out of Erdington, Birmingham, Leon “Rocky” Edwards is a former Welterweight Champion at the now-defunct BAMMA promotions. He made his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Saint Preux in November 2014, and has squared off against the likes of current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman as well as Donald Cerrone.

The current no 3 in UFC welterweight rankings, Edwards made his last appearance in the octagon in July 2019 at UFC on ESPN: dos Anjos vs. Edwards when he defeated Rafael dos Anjos via unanimous decision.

Fighting out of Chicago, Belal “Remember the Name” Muhammad is a former competitor at Bellator, Hoosier Fight Club, and a former Titan FC Welterweight champion. Raised to Palestinian parents, Belal made his UFC debut against Alan Jouban at UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. Alvarez in July 2016.

UFC Vegas 21: Edwards vs Muhammad Prelims Results

Welterweight: Matthew Semelsberger (8-2, 2-0 UFC) defeats Jason Witt (18-7, 1-2 UFC) by first-round KO

Strawweight: Jinh Yu Frey (10-6, 1-2 UFC) defeats Gloria de Paula (5-3, 0-1 UFC) by unanimous decision

Women’s flyweight: JJ Aldrich (9-4, 5-3 UFC) defeats Cortney Casey (9-9, 5-8 UFC) by split decision

Lightweight: Nasrat Haqparast (13-3, 5-2 UFC) defeats Rafa Garcia (12-1, 0-1 UFC) by unanimous decision

Men’s bantamweight: Rani Yahya (27-10-1 1 NC UFC, 12-4-1 1 NC UFC) defeats Ray Rodriguez (16-8, 0-2 UFC) by second-round submission

Men’s featherweight: Charles Jourdain (11-3-1, 2-2-1 UFC) defeats Marcelo Rojo (16-8, 0-1 UFC) by third-round submission

Strawweight: Angela Hill (13-9, 8-9 UFC) defeats Ashley Yoder (8-7, 3-6 UFC) by unanimous decision

MAIN CARD:

Middleweight: Eryk Anders (13-5, 1 NC, 5-5 1 NC UFC) fights Darren Stewart (12-6 2 NC, 5-5 2 NC UFC) to a no-contest

Men’s flyweight: Matheus Nicolau (16-3-1, 4-1 UFC) defeats Manel Kape (15-6, 0-2 UFC) by split decision

Men’s bantamweight: Davey Grant (13-4, 4-3 UFC) defeats Jonathan Martinez (13-4, 4-3 UFC) by second-round KO

Men’s featherweight: Dan Ige (15-3, 7-2 UFC) DEFEATS Gavin Tucker (13-2, 4-2 UFC) via KO in Round 1