Belal Muhammad talked a big game and backed it up in Manchester, England at UFC 304.
History has been forced to “Remember the Name” with Muhammad etched into the books as the latest UFC welterweight champion after he scored a unanimous decision over Leon Edwards. Muhammad, 36, was a comfortable underdog at a +200 minimum in most books despite having not lost in 10 consecutive fights prior (24-3, 1 NC).
Ultimately, the odds looked like they should have been flipped as Muhammad consistently pressured and out-grappled “Rocky.” Now, Muhammad is taking victory laps aplenty and rubbing it in the faces of those who had no faith in him.
“Cry, right? You guys that were talking,” Muhammad said on the Anik & Florian Podcast. “You guys were hating. All these guys wanted to come out. [Alexander] Volkanovski, ‘Man, I think Belal’s a good matchup for me if I fight him.’ Shut up, bro. I’ll smack the hell out of you. All these guys, right?
“There’s nobody in the UFC that will beat me,” he continued. “There’s nobody in the UFC that I can’t look at and tell you my path to victory. I look at all these guys, all these opponents, keep putting me as the underdog, and I’m gonna keep going out there and dominating. This wasn’t a hard fight. This was an easy fight, and I said it was gonna be easy.”
Muhammad’s targeting of the former featherweight champion Volkanovski comes after “The Great” half-joked about his willingness to step in on short notice for UFC 304’s main event if needed. In stating that, Volkanovski specified how he believed he’d have a much better chance against Muhammad than Edwards, expecting to win.
After the fight, Volkanovski wasn’t too impressed and retorted unexpectedly.
“@bullyb170 you have every reason to hate on what I said about you being a good stylistic match up for me but I truly believe that, even after your last fight, you didn’t show me anything different,” Volkanovski tweeted. “You still mad because I accidentally missed your call…pathetic! Say ‘shut up, I’ll smack the sh*t out of you’ to my face and see what happens.”
That’s one cross-division encounter truly no one has ever thought about until right now. Thankfully, there’s a one percent chance at best that it ever happens. In the octagon, anyway.
Volkanovski wasn’t the only one to doubt the new champion. More former champions broke down the Edwards rematch during fight week and were proved wrong, including one in Muhammad’s division.
“I told you so. To all the people out there that will sit there and all these so-called experts, even these fighters. You had Demetrious Johnson thinking he’s a great analyst. He sucks. [Kamaru] Usman sucks at analyzing stuff. All these guys, they don’t know what they’re talking about. When you get into the cage with me, it’s different. When you get into the cage with me, you think it’s slow. Then you get punched in the face, and you realize it’s fast.”
Uncertain of his return, Muhammad noted how he hopes to make his first title defense in November or December against who he expects to be the top undefeated 18-0 contender Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Wishful. Tony Ferguson doesn’t expect UFC Abu Dhabi bout to be his last, only wants to fight for UFC
Speculation. Umar Nurmagomedov not sold Merab Dvalishvili gets past Sean O’Malley at UFC 306
Beef. Aljamain Sterling to Sean O’Malley: ‘If your coach is really about that life, have him get froggy and leap’
$$$. Price revealed for new sports streaming service with ESPN, FOX and Warner Bros., launch date still unknown
Departure. Olympic champ David Taylor explains decision to retire from competition after missing out on 2024 Games
History. Liz Carmouche praises former opponent Ronda Rousey: She ‘made women’s MMA what it is today’
Favoritism. Taila Santos wants Dakota Ditcheva in $1 million final, says ‘it’s pretty clear’ PFL gave her easier opponents
Mishap. Liz Carmouche misses weight for PFL 7 semifinals, enters fight with 1-point penalty
Plan. Deiveson Figueiredo wants to knock out Chito Vera to earn title shot, expects Merab Dvalishvili to upset Sean O’Malley
Doubtful. Julianna Pena seeks Amanda Nunes trilogy bout with title win, tells Kayla Harrison ‘get in line’
Between the Links.
MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin chats with David Taylor.
Tony Ferguson UFC Abu Dhabi Media Day.
Crawford-Madrimov.
Mayweather-Gotti III.
Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov Preview.
Chito.
Mighty Mouse on Umar.
Adesanya's Fight Camp.
PFL Nashville.
Tom's night before.
Almighty Post-Fight.
Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes!
Girls just wanna have fun.
Back at it.
Match of the century.
Let’s party.
Hiroki Naruo (@hiroki_naruo) defeating Takuya Taira via TKO after trading *FIVE* knockdowns in a 1 minute and 48 second FOTY contender pic.twitter.com/3BZERLTo2W
— Benjamin (@AJKFenjoyer) August 2, 2024
Sad day.
Coming to the realisation that there may be an entire subset of fans who have only ever seen Tony lose… https://t.co/6Gds4NSv7D
— PVP - Punished “Venom” Phil (@ThisIsNotDSP) August 1, 2024
Jose Aldo (32-8) vs. Mario Bautista (14-2); UFC 307, Oct. 5
Kayla Harrison (17-1) vs. Ketlen Vieira (14-3); UFC 307, Oct. 5
Carla Esparza (20-7) vs. Tecia Pennington (13-7); UFC 307, Oct. 5
Brandon Royval (16-7) vs. Tatsuro Taira (166-0); UFC Vegas 98, Oct. 12
Cory McKenna (8-3) vs. Polyana Viana (13-7); UFC Vegas 98, Oct. 12
How I would love to see Volk vs. Belal simply for the sake of comedy. Conor McGregor would be furious that he didn’t get to be the first to challenge for three separate divisional titles.
Happy Friday, everyone. A lot of action happening in the MMA world as usual. Let’s have a good one. Thanks for reading!
If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.
