Belal Muhammad’s championship ego may have got the best of him at UFC 315.
For the first time in a while, the UFC Welterweight Champion wasn’t able to fight his usual fight against a much cleaner and fresher Jack Della Maddalena across five rounds of action.
Muhammad had his moments on the feet but it was Della Maddalena who had the better shots throughout, bloodying ‘Remember The Name’ with his boxing.
Known for smothering his opponents in the wrestling department, Belal Muhammad opted to strike with JDM for the majority of the fight, only securing 3 takedowns in 25 minutes, significantly less than his other fights against strikers Stephen Thompson (7) and Leon Edwards (9).
Showing more of his ‘Canelo hands’ than his all-around game that won him the title, Muhammad lost the belt to Della Maddalena by unanimous decision.
In the aftermath of UFC 315, an ex-UFC contender has criticized an ‘ill-advised’ Muhammad for not utilizing his keys to victory in his first title defense.
Josh Thomson compares Belal Muhammad’s performance to Ronda Rousey
Months before the title fight took place in Montreal, Muhammad claimed in the lead-up he wouldn’t need to shoot for one takedown on Della Maddalena, insisting he could beat the striker in the boxing exchanges.
Muhammad’s confidence was bolstered by his striking coach, who claimed the UFC Champ had hands like legendary boxer Canelo Alvarez prior to his title-winning performance against Leon Edwards at UFC 304 last summer.
“Did exactly what he said he was gonna do,” former UFC Lightweight Josh Thomson said of Muhammad’s approach at UFC 315 on the Weighing In Podcast.
“Ill advised but he did it.
“Is this one of those things where a coach got in your head and all of a sudden now you’re like Ronda Rousey? Like, they’re believing that you could beat Floyd Mayweather?” Thomson said of Muhammad trying to beat Della Maddalena at his own game.
Once touted to defeat Floyd Mayweather and half of the men’s bantamweight division by Joe Rogan, Ronda Rousey was stopped twice in the stand-up by Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes after failing to tie them up with her world-class judo skills that had won her so many fights.
Josh Thomson says Belal Muhammad ‘chose not to’ fight like Gilbert Burns
Looking back on Muhammad’s performance, Thomson believes the champion wanted to avoid a boring fight as much of his past criticism comes from taking down opponents and his inability to find the finish.
“I was like, please don’t tell me that’s what you’re doing,” Thomson said of Muhammad.
“Was it because, like, ‘Look, I’m the champ now, I’ve reached my goal, and now I’m gonna show the UFC I can be entertaining…’ Like, why?”
Many believed Muhammad would need an approach like Gilbert Burns if he wanted to defend his title against Della Maddalena.
Former title challenger Burns gave Della Maddalena the toughest fight of his UFC career last year when he won two rounds off of him with 7 takedowns. Despite a broken arm, Della Maddalena was able to score a comeback TKO late in the fight.
“Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, he’s gonna take JDM down. He’s gonna control it…’ They kept going back to the Gilbert Burns fight.
“Now he maybe could have done that,” Thomson said of Muhammad.
“He just chose not to. I have no idea why…”
Muhammad shot for nine takedowns on Della Maddalena with the Australian able to get back up relatively quickly on Muhammad’s 3 successful attempts.