UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad might still have Shavkat Rakhmonov in his sights, but ‘Remember the Name’ already has one eye on the division above him.
As a top-level UFC fighter, changing weight classes can often be a double-edged sword.
Whilst moving divisions can offer fighters the chance to reach new levels of fame and fortune, such a move also brings its own unique set of challenges – cue popular power puncher and top 170lb contender, Joaquin ‘New Mansa’ Buckley.
UFC champion Belal Muhammad warned against moving to 185lbs
The welterweight champion has long been vocal about his desire to move up to middleweight and challenge Dricus Du Plessis for a second UFC title.
Joaquin Buckley is one of the few top contenders who has competed in both weight classes and has now sent a stern warning to Muhammad about the lack of success he’d find in the middleweight division.
“You’ve seen Belal Muhammad talking about [how] he wants to move up and that he can be double champ – Belal, imma warn you right now, you do not have the tools nor the weapons to beat a person like Dricus [Du Plessis],” stated ‘New Mansa’ via his YouTube channel.
“You’re not going to be able to take buddy down, I’m just being honest with you bro, nor will you be able to knock him out with ya pillow hands…
“And no matter how much you think that you see holes in his game; even if you’re beating up Dricus, he’s just going to keep coming and coming and coming – he ain’t going to stop.”
Buckley started his UFC tenure at 185lbs and found only limited success, going 5-4 between 2020 and 2022, suffering three rather brutal knockout losses in the process.
By comparison, since dropping down to welterweight, ‘New Mansa’ has gone 6-0 with Buckley’s best win coming against Colby Covington at UFC Tampa last December.
Back to Belal Muhammad’s desire to exit the welterweight scene and the St. Louis standout warned that Dricus Du Plessis would “beat you in a way that you’ve never been beaten before.
“When you’re a 170lb fighter moving up, bro I’m telling you they hit a little bit different up there – trust me, I know. That’s why my a– went down to 170, I swear to God.”
Belal Muhammad insists he’ll vacate UFC title for Islam Makhachev
In a recent interview with Barstool Chicago, Belal Muhammad was asked what he’d do if dominant lightweight champion Islam Makhachev decided to also move up a UFC division.
“I would never fight Islam because that’s different for both me and him,” he responded, explaining how their relationship remains very different from other potential UFC rivals.
“We’ve trained together and when you’re sweating with somebody, bleeding with somebody, and training like that, it’s just a different relationship… It wouldn’t be about the money for me or him either I assume so I would never want to do that, and they’ve helped me so much.
“So, for me, I would rather go up to 185lbs and let him just take 170lbs if that is the case,” he claimed, before taking yet another swipe at the South African.
“I train with bigger guys; I’ve felt their strength and like 185lbs is probably the easiest weigh class – besides Khamzat [Chimaev]… Like if you look at that [UFC 312] main event, you’re like bro, [Sean] Strickland and Du Plessis suck.”