Leon Edwards, like many, believes Jon Jones is the greatest MMA fighter to ever walk this earth.
However, others may be surprised to learn that the worst fighter of all time, in his opinion, is a current UFC champion – Belal Muhammad.
Edwards appeared as a guest on The Louis Theroux Podcast where he was asked about the greatest UFC fighters of all time.
A former UFC champion in his own right, Edwards is more than equipped to give an expert view on the matter, but some may feel there was a hint of bias when discussing the opposite end of the scale.
“For me, I would say Jon Jones,” Edwards told Theroux on who the best ever is. “My second best is Anderson Silva.”
Jones is the UFC’s current heavyweight champion and Silva is renowned as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time.
Silva retired from the UFC in 2020 having won just one of his final nine bouts in the promotion, and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame as a Pioneer in the 2023 class.
“[Worst?] Belal [Muhammad]… I’d love to run it back,” Edwards added.
“Normal time. I’d love to run it back again next year (episode recorded in 2024).”
Edwards became a champion for the first time in the UFC when he knocked out Kamaru Usman with a wild viral head kick in their main event clash at UFC 278 in August 2022.
The Birmingham man was a huge underdog going into the bout, but proved all you need in MMA is one shot to achieve greatness.
Edwards then successfully defended his belt against the outspoken Colby Covington, who stooped so low in terms of trash talk in the build-up to their bout that he made jokes about Edwards’ dead father.
After comfortably winning that in what must have marked a bitter sweet moment for the 31-year-old, Edwards then defended his belt against Belal Muhammad.
However, almost two years into his UFC welterweight title reign Edwards dropped his belt to Muhammad after fighting the American in the early hours of the Manchester sun.
Many MMA fans, including British UFC stars like Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett have since spoken out about the fight, saying Dana White‘s preference to have it at a time that better suit his larger American audience would definitely have had an effect on the champion.
Edwards has now broken his silence on the matter and revealed insights into conversations he had with a ‘sleep specialist’ ahead of his defeat to Muhammad.
“Not physically tired, mentally,” Edwards said when questioned about his weaknesses due to the time he fought Muhammad at.
“You know when you wake up at five in the morning to get up and run or train, you don’t feel your best and that’s how I felt.
Edwards was largely dominated during the five-round bout with Muhammad, who took the Brit down nine times in total and looked far sharper.
“I felt it,” Edwards said. “I can’t explain it to this day what it was. Even leading up to it I spoke to a sleep specialist to ask what the best way was to adjust my body.
“Normally, throughout my 32/33 years, I’ve been going to bed at 11 o’clock like a normal sleep schedule, but this time I had to completely switch my body to performing at high intensity at two or three in the morning, and sleeping during the day.
“I spoke to him and he said if you don’t get a good nights sleep, it slows your reaction time down a lot and I felt it.”
Edwards is set for his MMA return since dropping the title as the UFC returns to London for the first time since 2023 on March 22.
He headlines a stacked Fight Night card against Australian Jack Della Maddalena, who is unbeaten in his last 17 fights, winning 14 by stoppage.
However, the Aussie star has not fought since March 9 last year when he knocked out Gilbert Burns at UFC 209 but suffered a broken forearm in the process.