UFC Vegas 21: ‘Edwards vs. Muhammad’ Fight Card and Start Times

After the excitement of UFC 259, we return to another thrilling Fight Night full of potential as Leon Edwards attempts to earn himself a title shot when he meets Belal Muhammad at UFC Vegas 21.

Event: UFC Vegas 21: Edwards vs Muhammad
Date: Saturday, 13th March 2021
Location: UFC APEX, Las Vegas, Nevada
Broadcast: ESPN+ – 5pm/8pm EST

Another almost two years away from the Octagon, largely through no fault of his own, Edwards will get back into the cage for a fight against a man who took the contest on short notice – Belal Muhammad.

Both men still have quite a lot to gain from putting on a good performance at UFC Vegas 21, but there are also plenty of other fights littered throughout this card that have a whole lot of intrigue attached to them.

UFC Vegas 21 Main Card – ESPN+ (8pm EST)

• Welterweight – Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad
• Light Heavyweight – Misha Cirkunov vs. Ryan Spann
• Heavyweight – Ben Rothwell vs. Philipe Lins
• Featherweight – Dan Ige vs. Gavin Tucker
• Women’s Strawweight – Angela Hill vs. Ashley Yoder
• Flyweight – Manel Kape vs. Matheus Nicolau
• Middleweight – Eryk Anders vs. Darren Stewart

UFC Vegas 21 Prelims – ESPN+ (5pm EST)

• Women’s Flyweight – Cortney Casey vs. JJ Aldrich
• Featherweight – Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
• Lightweight – Nasrat Haqparast vs. Don Madge
• Bantamweight – Rani Yahya vs. Ray Rodriguez
• Featherweight – Charles Jourdain vs. Marcelo Rojo
• Bantamweight – Jonathan Martinez vs. Davey Grant
• Women’s Strawweight – Gloria de Paula vs. Jinh Yu Frey
• Welterweight – Matthew Semelsberger vs. Jason Witt

Edwards, the UFC Vegas 21 headliner, was linked with a fight against Colby Covington instead of Muhammad – but he claims “Chaos” turned it down.

“I thought he would’ve stepped up. He talks a lot of s**t on social media. But, when it’s time to fight real fighters he goes running and makes excuses. I wasn’t shocked really, its’ kind of his character,” Edwards said to MMA News’ James Lynch ahead of UFC Vegas 21. “He doesn’t want to fight top guys. He wants to sit on the sideline and say he wants a title shot but doesn’t want to work for a title shot. It is what it is.”

“They came to me and said would you fight him. I said yes, and they went to him and said would you fight Leon and he said no. That was it,” Edwards added. “They tried pushing it, they tried getting him to fight me but he wouldn’t do it. He wants a title shot.”

What are your thoughts on the UFC Vegas 21 card?