Belal Muhammad has been cast as the underrated underdog for so long, it might take an attitude adjustment for him to thrive in his new role: UFC welterweight champion.

On Saturday, July 27, Muhammad stepped into the octagon in Manchester, England, and — on his opponent’s home soil — upset Leon Edwards via unanimous decision to claim his first UFC title in his first UFC title opportunity at 35 years old. Due in large part to his wrestling-based style of MMA that doesn’t produce a lot of fireworks (i.e., people think he’s boring), Muhammad was constantly overlooked for title shots and main events before finally getting matched up with Edwards on a UFC 304 pay-per-view card that was designed as a showcase for some of the promotion’s top English stars, including Edwards, interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, and rising star Paddy Pimblett.

Muhammad went into the main event and stole the show. When it was over, the Muslim fighter from Chicago was crowned the first Palestinian champion in UFC history. His professional MMA record improved to 24-3 (6 stoppages) with 1 no-contest — but now the longtime hunter has become the hunted. In his first post-fight interview, Muhammad talked about his ancestral home:

In his recap of the fight, Donagh Corby of the Bloody Elbow combat sports blog wrote that Muhammad “managed to impose his will in the opening exchanges. Within seconds he had landed a big takedown, and during the first he showed impressive striking.”

After Muhammad won the first three rounds of the five-round fight convincingly, Edwards essentially needed a knockout to retain his title, and Muhammad was too good defensively to allow that.

In one of the undercard fights, England’s Muhammad Mokaev faced Manel Kape in a flyweight bout between two Muslim fighters that were both ranked in the division’s top 10. While the two seemed to have a blood feud in the lead-up to the fight, once they got in the cage the action was tame. Mokaev won by decision, but the fight was so unentertaining that UFC boss Dana White acknowledged in the post-show press conference that he’s no longer interested in having Mokaev (13-0, 8 stoppages, 1 no-contest) in the UFC.