Belal Muhammad captures welterweight gold at UFC 304

The UFC has a new welterweight champion, and his name is Belal Muhammad. It was a historical victory as Muhammad became the first Palestinian world champion. Muhammad did it by fighting his pace and putting the former world champion Leon Edwards in a pressure cooker.

That pattern would repeat over and over throughout the fight, with Edwards' usually sturdy takedown defense being cracked time and again by Muhammad's relentless pressure, as well as Edwards' own inability to break Muhammad's grip and find space to strike. UFC president Dana White was like the majority who watched the fight and commented on the slow pace of the fight. It wasn’t the most fan friendly performance, but it got the job done. 

After the conclusion of five rounds, the result was clear as Muhammad took the fight on scores of 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46 to become the new UFC welterweight champion. Edwards best offense came at the closing moments of the rounds he even busted Muhammad open with a vicious elbow at the end of the fifth round. Because of the pace of this fight and styles making fights it doesn’t seem like Edwards will get an immediate rematch.

Muhammad is now riding a 10-fight winning streak. It seems like his first challenge as champion will be Shavkat Rakhmonov, the UFC's No. 3 ranked welterweight entering the night, behind former champion Kamaru Usman and Muhammad. Rakhmonov is 18-0 in his career, with every fight ending by submission or knockout. 

The co-main event was a short but sweet victory for interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. Aspinall, who has held the interim title for nine months now, continued to call for his unification fight with Jon Jones, who is expected to face Stipe Miocic later this year. Aspinal is shaping up to be one of UFC’s most popular fighters and his pure agility for someone his size makes for an exciting fight.