It’s fair to say that Belal Muhammad has had his fair share of haters during his UFC tenure which has included fellow fighters, but at UFC 304 he became the latest fighter to realize his dream by lifting the belt.
Despite being on a 10-fight unbeaten streak, Belal Muhammad was getting severely counted out for his UFC 304 title challenge against Leon Edwards.
The 36-year-old went on to dominate the British striker for five rounds, becoming the new welterweight champion, which surprised a large majority of the MMA world.
Darren Till offers his opinion on Belal Muhammad becoming the new champion
One fighter Muhammad had a history of online feuds with, is former UFC star, Darren Till. At one point it seemed certain that Till and Muhammad would fight inside the Octagon, but because of the Brit’s unfortunate demise, it never came to fruition.
Since leaving the UFC and chasing a career in the boxing world, Till seems to have attempted to turn face, and he has even commended his former foe for his feat in becoming the champion, something he was unable to do.
“I think it’s good and bad (that Belal is the champion), I think sometimes them guys are just them guys aren’t they, like Paddy (Pimblett) is that guy, I was that guy, Conor (McGregor) and Israel Adesanya (are them guys),” Till began to explain in an interview with Title Sports Network.
“I love Belal, I’ve beefed him a lot on Twitter but if I was Dana (White) he probably wouldn’t be the champion I’d want, but you know what, he stayed true to himself.
“He’s carrying a big weight on his shoulders now with the belt and obviously he’s a good guy so I’m not hating but he’s probably not the most exciting champion you’d want,” he continued.
When UFC CEO Dana White wrapped the belt around Muhammad’s waist in the Octagon, fans picked up on the fact that the boss didn’t look too impressed. At the post-fight press conference, White admitted that it wasn’t an exciting fight, and he wasn’t entirely impressed with the event as a whole.
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Belal Muhammad already talking about moving up for a second belt
Although ‘Remember The Name’ has only just become the 170lb champion, the 36-year-old is already considering the possibility of moving up to middleweight to become a double champion.
While those plans may be extremely premature, Muhammad attempted to make his case in a recent interview with Grind City Media.
“I’ve already beat so many top contenders, you can say Shavkat (Rakhmonov) is next but is he truly deserving of being next? Is (Kamaru) Usman truly deserving of being next?
“There’s not really a clear number-one contender if you’re really thinking about it… It tells me I’ve got maybe two fights and then I can start talking about double-champ status because I’ve already beat these guys in the top 10,” Muhammad claimed.
If the welterweight champion wants to keep his newly formed friendship with Till, he will need to put double-champ status on the back burner, because ‘The Gorilla’ thinks it’s bizarre that he is talking about that so early on.
“Every fighter now it’s like, ‘I’m gonna go up and double champ it’, no, shut up Belal, he’s talking about it, shut up, you’ve won one fight and won the belt defend like (Georges St-Pierre) did and Jon Jones did.”