Former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad donned the boxing gloves for a rare sparring session this week.
Divisive ex-title holder Muhammad is better known for his wrestling skills, which earned him the belt as he dethroned Leon Edwards in July of last year. But he is also infamous for comparing his striking to that of ring icon Canelo Alvarez.
And he had a chance to show off his pure striking to fans in a brief video shared by Misfits Boxing star Slim Albaher on Instagram last night. The pair sparred for a short period before the video cut out, but showed Muhammad in a boxing only environment.
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Belal Muhammad spars with Misfits Boxing star Slim Albaher
Over the weekend, Belal Muhammad linked up with renowned Misfits Boxing star Slim Albaher. The pair have been friends for a long time, and were finally able to get some sparring in, even sharing a brief clip for fans to enjoy.
Albaher is a pure boxer, holding a record of 7-1 with five knockouts, and as such could only engage in boxing sparring. It meant that Muhammad, a more well-known wrestler, was able to put his hands to use in the footage.
“Training session with my Twin Brother,” Albaher wrote in the caption for his post. “The UFC World champion.” Muhammad replied by telling him it was “great work” and referring to the former Misfits title holder as ‘my brother’.
Fans react to Belal Muhammad’s ‘Canelo hands’ in sparring video
Viewers had mixed reactions to Muhammad’s new boxing footage, with a few joking about his “Canelo hands” against the far less experienced Albaher. The social media star only began to train boxing in 2019 for a bout with Yousef ‘Fousey’ Erakat, so is still developing his skills.
Top boxers including former world champion Kal Yafai and Hamzah Sheeraz were among the more positive comments although they just shared emojis instead of words. However, on X people were much less complimentary.
“When you’re sparring a guy you respect you always throw a lot of body shots lol,” One commenter wrote. “Don’t want to actually hurt em, even accidentally.”
Another added: “Slim looking like an absolute amateur in there. Does not make sense for someone with six years training. Holding the highest guard imaginable, he looks terrified and makes himself an open target. This is how someone spars in their first few months. Dude is regressing.”