Before Belal Muhammad went on an 11-fight unbeaten streak, he was 1-2 in the UFC.
The UFC Welterweight Champion has really found his footing in the premier promotion, not having lost once in the last six years. Muhammad dominated legendary striker Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, Sean Brady and Gilbert Burns en route to winning Leon Edwards’ title last summer at UFC 304.
Now, Belal Muhammad’s set to defend the belt for the first time in the main event of UFC 315. Muhammad will face off against top contender Jack Della Maddalena.
The best in the world – life couldn’t be better for Muhammad. But looking back on his career, there was a time where ‘Remember The Name’ was convinced he was going to lose his UFC job.
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Belal Muhammad worried UFC would cut him after losing to Vicente Luque in 2016
Muhammad first questioned if he was ‘good enough’ to be in the UFC when he lost to Alan Jouban in his promotional debut back in July 2016. It was Muhammad’s first loss after going 9-0 on the regional scene.
Muhammad asked for another fight right away, bouncing back with a TKO of Augusto Montaño a few months later.
The welterweight didn’t stay in the win column for too long, suffering a KO loss at the hands of Vicente Luque two months later at UFC 205 from Madison Square Garden.
“It was my first time ever getting knocked out,” Muhammad said on The Full Send Podcast.
“I was like, dang, I’m 1-2 in the UFC…
“I’m not good enough to be here. I [was thinking] like, that was it. They’re gonna cut me.”
Of course, that wouldn’t be the case for Muhammad, with the fighter going 14-1 (1 NC) since, avenging his loss to Luque in 2022.
“[UFC] finally called me for a short notice fight probably a month later for Randy Brown.
“We won that one. We got a new contract. And then from there on out, we just kept winning and just kept pushing it,” Muhammad continued.
How a 1-2 Belal Muhammad turned his UFC career around
Once on the verge of a UFC release, Muhammad knew he’d have to make some changes to keep his championship dreams alive.
Muhammad wasn’t your traditional MMA fighter with limited wrestling experience in high school. The UFC Champion had PFL Champion Louis Taylor as his coach for a time, following him to his MMA gym where he’d begin his amateur career.
“The training, for sure,” Muhammad said of what changed for him after a 1-2 stint in the UFC.
“For myself, 9-0, when I first was coming up, there was no structure to the training,” Muhammad continued.
“It was mostly just me and Lou, and then we’ll have other training partners. I was training with a couple of bantamweights… there wasn’t really a system.
“After I took that second loss [to Luque], I was like, alright, I need to find other guys to train with.
“I went down to Milwaukee, started training with Anthony Pettis and the guys at Roufus Sport.”
From that moment on, Belal Muhammad’s game never looked the same, leveling up into the UFC Welterweight Champion he is today.