UFC 304 Results: Belal Muhammad Beats Leon Edwards To Become New Welterweight Champion

Belal Muhammad captured the welterweight title by earning a unanimous decision after five rounds against the reigning champion, Leon Edwards from England. Muhammad, an American from Illinois, took great satisfaction in defeating Edwards on his home turf.

“It sounds like all the people booing have a lot of tears in their eyes,” Muhammad said. “We've got a real champion in Chicago now.”

His face bloodied, Muhammad (24-3) dropped to his knees moments after he remained unbeaten in his 11th straight fight and had the championship belt wrapped around his waist. He hasn't lost since 2019. Edwards (22-4) defeated Kamaru Usman to win the belt in 2022 and had two successful title defenses. All four fighters in the two title fights wore the new gold gloves introduced at UFC 302 designed to minimize eye pokes.

UFC ran the first live sporting event at Co-op Live, and the UK’s only music-first arena was jammed with fight fans -- wildly enthusiastic despite the early start time. In order to accommodate the traditional 10 p.m. EDT pay-per-view start for an American audience, the main card’s official start time was 3:33 a.m. in England.

The 304 card was headlined by two anticipated rematches.

Edwards and Muhammad fought to a no-contest in 2021, an unsatisfying result that sparked winning streaks for both fighters. Edwards reeled off four consecutive wins, while Muhammad won five straight.

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UFC 304 Results

Main card

• Belal Muhammad bts Leon Edwards by UD
• Tom Aspinall TKOs Curtis Blaydes in R1
• Paddy Pimblett SUBs King Green in R1
• Gregory Rodrigues bts Christian Leroy Duncan by UD
• Arnold Allen bts Giga Chikadze by UD

Prelim card

• Nathaniel Wood bts Daniel Pineda by UD
• Bruna Brasil bts Molly McCann by UD
• Jake Hadley bts Caolan Loughran by UD
• Muhammad Mokaev bts Manel Kape by UD

Early prelim card

• Oban Elliott bts Preston Parsons by UD
• Modestas Bukauskas SUBs Marcin Prachnio in R3
• Sam Patterson SUBs Kiefer Crosbie in R1
• Mick Parkin KOs Lukasz Brzeski in R1
• Shauna Bannon bts Alice Ardelean by SD

(With AP inputs)