Over the weekend, UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad found himself fending off not one, but two of the biggest superstars in the promotion; featherweight king Ilia Topuria and former double champ Conor McGregor.
The trio are certainly no strangers to starting online beef, with this week’s war of words started just a few hours after it was announced that Belal Muhammad would fight undefeated wrecking ball Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 this December.
Ilia Topuria and Conor McGregor gang up on welterweight king Belal Muhammad
The heated online argument between the three UFC stars kicked off after Ilia Topuria picked the 18-0 Rakhmonov to beat ‘Remember the Name’ later this year, as he called Muhammad a “fake champion.”
Muhammad was quick to fire back at ‘El Matador’ as he took issue with Topuria calling him a fake champion when he himself recently purchased his own version of the silver-plated BMF title, currently held by Max Holloway.
“Didn’t this dork just buy a fake bmf belt to pose with… He’s starting to become the Georgian version of Colby Covington.”
Rather low-hanging insults were exchanged next, with Topuria calling Muhammad a “crotch sniffer,” who in turn, likened Topuria to P. Diddy by sharing an image of him grappling with Jai Herbert.
The Spanish-Georgian sensation wouldn’t take kindly to the divisive comparison as he launched one last attack on the welterweight champion: “No finishes. No knockouts. No knockdowns. No girlfriend. No kids. Belal has never finished any man or woman.”
It was at this stage of the night that Conor McGregor chimed into the debate, albeit in yet another rather unhinged message as he wrote in a now-deleted X post how he’d “Love to crush my left hook into belal’s temple and take down the triple crown.
“I’d do it easily, and fast! I’d cave his skull heavy! The hurdles I face getting back to the octagon are just harrowing. I am so sad over my June 29th fight cancelation…
“To think this bum is now a UFC champion with zero knockdowns on his resume or whatever is so bad. The UFC’s most abysmal zero revenue generating fight in modern history.
Whilst McGregor and Topuria might have found themselves on the same team this time around, that isn’t to say that the two have settled their own feud.
In fact, during that initial Instagram Live in which Topuria first took aim at Muhammad, he would also claim that he’d make easy work of a ‘prime’ Conor McGregor.
“MMA has evolved. He was really good in the stand-up, but on the ground he was always terrible. I’d beat him in his prime, at any time… wherever, whenever, it’s not a competition. Let him keep drinking whiskey.”
Luckily, it won’t be long before we see said combatants back in the octagon – Ilia Topuria is scheduled to face Max Holloway later this month in the main event of UFC 308, with Belal Muhammad set to fight Rakhmonov in the main event of UFC 310 in December.
Conor McGregor told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive interview over the weekend that he’s expecting to make his return in February 2025.