UFC Vegas 51: Wrestling of Belal Muhammad too much for Vicente Luque

Five takedowns from Belal Muhammad help lead him to win over Vicente Luque in UFC Vegas 51 headliner

Holding his own on the feet and dominating in the grappling game, Belal Muhammad scored revenge on an old rival and a top-5 position in the UFC welterweight rankings, defeating Vicente Luque in the main event of UFC Vegas 51.

This was a rematch from their initial encounter at UFC 205 in November 2016, which saw Luque score a first-round knockout of Muhammad.

Belal Muhammad in great contender positioning following win over Vicente Luque at UFC Vegas 51

Both men had their fair share of strikes in the opening round, with both men landing kicks. Muhammad, however, seemed to have the stronger start, thanks in part to a strong takedown he landed, with some ground-and-pound to follow up.

Luque looked to apply more pressure in the second round, but Muhammad again was answering back — and landing the better shots in terms of both quantity and quality. Muhammad also landed another takedown and got to Luque’s back, albeit with no real submission threat.

The tide seemed to turn in the third, however, as Luque rocked Muhammad early on with a quick left hook. He followed it up with a couple of more left punches and was able to fight off a Muhammad takedown attempt. Luque continued to pound away at Muhammad — this time it was Luque getting the upper hand in their trading. And while Muhammad did land another takedown, Luque impressed by getting back to his feet and pressuring Muhammad again.

Luque looked to continue his offensive momentum with more punches to start the fourth round, but Muhammad landed a takedown once again and got into both arm-triangle and side control before falling off while trying to get to Luque’s back. This round could have gone either way, with Luque doing better on the feet, but once again having little answer to Muhammad’s wrestling.

Muhammad went for a couple of takedowns again early in the fifth, but one was stuffed, and the other Luque countered by looking for a choke he couldn’t get. Muhammad, however, got back to his feet. And once he took Luque across the cage and got a takedown, it seemed over from there, as he fully got the momentum back on his side.

All three judges scored four rounds for Muhammad, with two 49-46 totals and one 49-47.

UFC Vegas 51: Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad takes place on Saturday, April 16, 2022, live from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, NV. Follow along with FanSided MMA who is onsite for all your news and highlights.