UFC: Leon Edwards leaves Belal Muhammad in tears with eye poke as fight ends in no contest
- No 3-ranked welterweight’s big return after lengthy lay-off ruined by accidental eye poke in second round
- ‘I apologise, I didn’t mean to do it … I’d rather a loss than that, I’m just heartbroken,’ Edwards says
Leon Edwards’ big comeback at UFC Vegas 21 ended on a flat note after an accidental eye poke in the second round left Belal Muhammad unable to see out of his right eye, nor continue the fight.
No 3-ranked welterweight “Rocky” had been out of the Octagon for 18 months through no fault of his own, with a series of fights cancelled amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
But after an impressive showing in the opening round, Edwards left Muhammad crying on the canvas in excruciating pain just 18 seconds after the restart. Referee Herb Dean ruled the fight a no contest, after the cageside doctor quickly assessed Muhammad had no chance of carrying on.
“First of all obviously I apologise to Belal, I didn’t mean to do it. I went for the cross head kick, he stepped into it,” Edwards told Daniel Cormier in his post-fight interview at the Apex facility on Saturday night. “I’d rather a loss than that, I’m just heartbroken. I don’t know what to say.
“As soon as I left the cage, I said to my manager, ‘What do I do now?’ I went in there to focus on my next chapter, to be a world champion. I had that f****** taken away from me. It’s been a long year and a half away to come back to that.”
The 29-year-old Briton Edwards (18-3, one no contest), on an eight-fight win streak, had seen a fight against former champ Tyron Woodley in London fall through a year ago before his bout with the surging newcomer Khamzat Chimaev was scrapped for a third time in three months.