UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad believes he’ll face a big downgrade in opponent difficulty at UFC 315.
Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena headline UFC 315 in May for the UFC’s return to Montreal. This is Muhammad’s long-awaited first title defense after withdrawing from UFC 310 in December due to injury.
This will easily be the toughest test of Maddalena’s career after a quick ascent to the title shot. The UFC’s top option for the upcoming title shot, Shavkat Rakhmonov, is injured and is sidelined for an uncertain duration.
Muhammad vs. Maddalena wasn’t the UFC 315 main event most expected, but it features plenty of firepower regardless. Muhammad believes Maddalena is entering his first UFC title shot with a gaping hole in his game ahead of UFC 315.
Belal Muhammad ignites pre-fight mental warfare with Jack Della Maddalena
During a recent appearance on The Anik & Florian Podcast, Muhammad explained what he’s seen from Maddalena’s recent fights that hint at a potential weakness.
“If I’m being honest with you, I’m better everywhere,” Muhammad said. “People are going to say and ready to come out with ‘Oh he’s got hands, he’s got hands’. But I think they just underestimate my hands and my striking, and I just went against the best striker in the UFC in Leon Edwards. I train with the best strikers in the UFC in Ignacio Bahamondes, Yair Rodriguez, and both of these guys…they’re on a different level…
“So when I have a guy that’s basic in Jack, who is just boxing. He has really good hands and good power, and he breaks a lot of these guys down because he hasn’t fought anyone. His biggest weakness is the experience, he’s never been in a big fight like that. Never had a pressure fight, faced a pressure fighter. So I’m going to go in there and walk through him.”
The UFC-unbeaten Maddalena enters UFC 315 off of recent wins over Gilbert Burns, Kevin Holland, and Bassil Hafez. He earned a shot in the UFC via Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021.
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Belal Muhammad in budding feud with Dricus du Plessis ahead of UFC 315
If Muhammad gets past Maddalena at UFC 315, a future middleweight move could be next for his career. He’s in a war of words with UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis since the latter’s dominant win at UFC 312 earlier this month.
Du Plessis issued a brutal response to some of Muhammad’s recent taunts about the middleweight division, claiming he’s ‘step on Belal’s head’ if they ever fought. After a recent UFC rule change, Muhammad would have to vacate the welterweight title to move up to middleweight.
Du Plessis defeated Muhammad’s long-standing adversary, Sean Strickland by unanimous decision in their UFC 312 rematch. Muhammad earned the welterweight championship by dethroning Leon Edwards last July.
But du Plessis also has another superfight on his radar after his UFC 312 victory. The middleweight titleholder and UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira verbally agreed on a future fight during a backstage face-to-face.
First thing’s first for Muhammad as he prepares to stop Maddalena’s UFC-unbeaten run for his first welterweight title defense.