One of these men is going to be proven wrong late on Saturday night in Manchester.

Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad came within inches of one another in a choreographed staredown ahead of their UFC 304 main event in Manchester’s new Co-Op Arena, days out from a fight in which both have stated they will win with ease.

A glance at their respective records reveals the genesis of their respective confidence. Combined, Edwards and Muhammad have competed 23 times with suffering a loss — with the only blemish on their records coming in their first matchup back in March 2021; a fight adjudged as a no-contest after Muhammad was unable to continue after sustaining an accidental second-round eyepoke from Edwards.

Since then, Muhammad has rolled through a range of contenders including Demian Maia, Sean Brady and Gilbert Burns, while Edwards dethroned Kamaru Usman to become the UFC’s 170-pound champion.

And judging by their comments from Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, and indeed the staredown that followed it, neither is willing to take a backward step in advance of the UFC 304 headliner.

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