Belal Muhammad has been unbeaten in the UFC since he lost to Geoff Neal in January 2019. Since then, he has reeled off a 10-fight unbeaten streak, 9 wins, and 1 No Contest, with victories against Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Sean Brady, and Gilbert Burns. Dana White once named him next in line to face Leon Edwards, but no official confirmations have been made.
Speaking to MiddleEasy‘s Mike Owens, Muhammad opened up about the state of the UFC’s welterweight division where he has the second-longest active winning streak. Muhammad has been dismissive of Leon Edwards’ chances but now has stated that there are no tough matchups for him in the division.
“Once you get to that top five of the division, it’s not really about skills, It’s about heart, it’s about pressure, it’s about perseverance. And I think that I’m miles ahead of all these guys,” said Muhammad, explaining that he has a style to adjust to the opponent in front.
Indeed, Muhammad has the ability to adapt to his opponents’ styles, as evidenced by his victories against Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Sean Brady, and Gilbert Burns. Each of these fighters possesses a unique style, yet Muhammad adeptly exploited their weaknesses to emerge victorious.
Muhammad is worthy of a title shot and virtually nobody in the division has the claim to be the next title challenger. However, certain situations and personnel prevent the Palestinian American fighter from getting a title shot. The 2nd ranked welterweight believes that Tim Simpson, Leon Edwards’ manager, is one of them.
Belal Muhammad bashes Leon Edwards’ manager
Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill headlined UFC 300 where Pereira scored a first-round knockout of Hill and revealed his plans to become the heavyweight champion. However, Pereira versus Hill was not the first fight the UFC had in mind to headline the PPV. White even revealed that he had offered three different opponents to Edwards to headline UFC 300, all of whom he accepted.
None of those three names were Belal Muhammad, and Tim Simpson recently revealed the three names to be Islam Makhachev, Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Khamzat Chimaev. Since the revelation, Muhammad and Edwards’ team have engaged in a war of words on social media, creating a lot of heat. Therefore, Muhammad did not mince words when he spoke about Team Leon Edwards, particularly Tim Simpson.
“After I beat Leon Edwards, Tim Simpson’s not gonna have any more champions. Like, his roster is going to be dead after that, and their whole team’s going to go to irrelevancy,” Belal Muhammad sent a stern warning to Simpson, fully believing that he would easily defeat Edwards.
Leon, his manager, his coach, his brother ..all bitches
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) April 11, 2024
Muhammad also revealed that this is the second time he is fighting someone who he ‘dislikes’. The first time that happened was when he fought Sean Brady, who was undefeated. All other recent opponents, Luque, Thompson, Maia, and Burns, were respectful towards Muhammad and the feeling was mutual.
Do you think Belal Muhammad will become a UFC champion? Leave your prediction below!
