Belal Muhammad is his most likely opponent because he is ranked second in the welterweight rankings

Leon Edwards has announced that he is hoping to compete at UFC 300. The 32-year-old made this announcement at Villa Park. He was attending an English premier league match between Aston Villa and Burnley.

The Aston Villa fans honored Edwards at halftime. The Villa Park stadium is found in Edwards’ hometown of Birmingham, England. The welterweight champion was brought up in Birmingham although he was born in Jamaica.

The Villa fans previously honored Edwards with a customized Aston Villa shirt with ‘’number 1’’ and “Champ” on the back. He was seen taking photos with Aston Villa players in the dressing room. Jamaican international Leon Bailey was one of the stars he was pictured with.

UFC 300 event is being hyped-up as a must-watch event because it will feature some of the organization’s biggest stars. It will be undoubtedly be one of the best events of the year. The event is expected to happen on April 13, 2024. It will be hosted in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The historic event will feature fights like Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic and Aljamain Sterling vs. Calvin Kattar. However, these high-profile fights still lack a title fight. This is where Edwards comes in. He is the first champion to offer his services for this event.

Edwards told the Villa fans that he hopes to return to Birmingham for a fight in the summer. He revealed that he is speaking with the UFC to ensure that this event will be held in Villa Park.

Edwards is making these plans in order to establish himself as an active champion. These announcements come after he defended his title against Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington. This fight happened on Dec. He retained his title through a unanimous decision win.

Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC) won his title in 2022 when he defeated Kamaru Usman at UFC 278. This event will be remembered forever because of the vicious head-kick that Edwards delivered to Usman. The Brit won the championship by knockout. This win was impressive because it was Usman’s first career loss.

Edwards confirmed that his win wasn’t a fluke by defeating Usman again in the beginning of 2023. He won this fight by majority decision.

Edwards has defeated many big-name fighters in the last few years. They include Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Rafael dos Anjos, Nate Diaz, Covington and Usman.

The UFC hasn’t confirmed who will be Edwards’s next opponent. However, some strong candidates have thrown their names into the mix. Nate Diaz, Shavkat Rakhmonov, Belal Muhammad, Islam Mackachev and Gilbert Burns have all expressed their interest in the fight.

However, Belal Muhammad is the most likely opponent. Muhammad is ranked second in the welterweight rankings. He also boasts of a five-fight winning streak. He has defeated top fighters like Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, Sean Brady and Gilbert Burns.

Edwards and Muhammad fought each other in 2021 but their fight was declared a no-contest. This is because Muhammad couldn’t continue fighting after Edwards landed an accidental eye poke.