Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad

Round 1
Making his return a few months after fighting through the coronavirus, Good (21-5, 1 NC; 3-2 UFC) fights with a heavy heart for his recently departed father against tough out Muhammad (16-3, 7-3 UFC) at welterweight. The cage will be monitored by referee Chris Tognoni, although after that glove touch we can be sure there is no ill will between these two. Muhammad kicks low to the leg as Good throws a right hand that misses. Muhammad works another low kick, and Good comes out firing with a string of heavy punches. Muhammad throws a knee up the middle when they briefly clinch, and a head kick of his gets blocked shortly thereafter. Muhammad targets the lead leg again, and Good bites down on his mouthpiece to wing massive punches. Muhammad scores a one-two, and Good is content to stalk him down and stay in the Roufusport fighter’s face. Muhammad again works the lead leg, and Good tries to respond with one that skims off the thigh. Muhammad ducks down with an uppercut, and Good absorbs it without effect and takes a right hand across the bow for good measure. Wanting to capitalize on that strike, Muhammad aims another but it is way off the mark. He does follow the missing punch with a thudding body kick, and Good’s right hand drops briefly to block another one that does not come. Good lands a counter right hand, and Muhammad tags him with a one-two while circling out of danger. Good is attempting to catch Muhammad coming in, but he is throwing single strikes while Muhammad is more interested in concurrent strikes. The stance switches from Muhammad are flustering Good, who is trying to find an angle and tag him with a right hand but it is Muhammad that scores a few jabs on the outside. Good tries to crash in to land some offense, and Muhammad backs off before jumping forward to land a knee on the torso. Good catches Muhammad on the end of a left hand, but the beard of Muhammad is uncracked after eating that shot. They trade high kicks, and a brief blitz from Muhammad ends the round.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Muhammad
Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Muhammad
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Muhammad

Round 2
As Good advances to begin the round and try to load up on power punches, Muhammad keeps to the outside and picks away at him with kicks while circling away. Muhammad lulls Good into a pattern and shoots in low for a double, where he lands a takedown. Good does not go down so much as his posterior rebounds off the canvas and he is right back to his feet, and they separate. Good starts to stick out the jab and mark up the nose of his opponent, and he ducks a heavy one-two coming back at him. One errant finger pokes the eye of Muhammad, but the Roufusport fighter waves Tognoni off and they continue after a break of mere seconds. Good continues to walk him down, and although he misses with a head kick, he connects with a good right hand that gets Muhammad’s attention. A couple jabs from Good back his opponent off, but Muhammad resets and throws up high kick that Good barely blocks. He throws another, and Good similarly defends against it. When Muhammad sets up a combination, they both land at the same time, and Muhammad looks to almost wobble for a moment. Good nails him with right hand, and Muhammad comes back at him with a body kick. Muhammad sits down on heavy one-two, and then another as Good is barely able to block them. The blocked head kicks continue to come from Muhammad, and even though Good protects against them, the impact of the strikes move Good back. Good winds up with a huge right hand, and unloads a combination that rings Muhammad’s bell. Muhammad recovers, and the two clack heads as they separate after an exchange, opening up a cut on Muhammad’s right eye. Muhammad throws a few more head kicks and one to the body, and Good blocks them all. The round ends.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Muhammad
Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Muhammad
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Muhammad

Round 3
Muhammad opens with a few kicks, and a left hand splits the guard in the early going as Good marches through it to try to land his own power shots. Good winds up and cocks back a right hand from hell that blasts Muhammad on the jaw, sending the Chicago based fighter nearly off his feet. Muhammad falls to the cage, and as he gets his bearings, he shoots in low for a takedown. Good stuffs it and chases him down, but Muhammad survives the assault and the two start slugging it out. Good cracks him again, and once more Muhammad wobbles, but he stays tough as he fires right back. The blood starts to flow on the eye of Muhammad, and they clinch up and trade heavy leather and an elbow on the break from Muhammad. Good is aiming a big right hand again, and it keeps finding its home, but Muhammad is trying to time it and close the distance to land clinch strikes. Muhammad stings him to the body with a few knees, and Good is putting everything he has into his punches. Good springs off the fence with a superman punch, and after a string of punches from Good, Muhammad scores a takedown when Good gets a little wild. “Cyborg” springs back up by walking up the wall, although Muhammad has his back and is trying to wrench him back down. Good turns around and simply shoves his bloody foe off of him. Good tags him again at the end of a right hand, and Muhammad’s knees are weak and his stance is loose, but he is willing to trade with Good. As Muhammad takes punches, he shoots in low and hits a takedown. Good tries to scramble away, but Muhammad takes his back and sets up the body triangle, Muhammad tries to sink in a rear-naked choke with seconds left, and he cannot get it under the chin before time expires. What a fun battle that was.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Good (29-28 Muhammad)
Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Good (29-28 Muhammad)
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Good (29-28 Muhammad)

The Official Result
Belal Muhammad def. Lyman Good via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)