Belal Muhammad doubts Leon Edwards was offered three fights for UFC 300: Claim was ‘to hype up Leon’

Belal Muhammad calls shenanigans on Leon Edwards being offered three fights for UFC 300.

[autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] calls shenanigans on [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] being offered three fights for UFC 300.

The UFC CEO heaped praise on welterweight champion Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC) for accepting three fight offers for the historic April 13 card at T-Mobile Arena, but none came to fruition. Those three names were alleged to be lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who confirmed the claim to MMA Junkie, Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Khamzat Chimaev.

But none were Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC), who was declared No. 1 contender after defeating Gilbert Burns at UFC 288.

“If I’m going to be honest, I don’t really buy the whole, ‘We offered him three fights,'” Muhammad said on MMA on Sirius XM. “I know they offered it to Islam, and I know Islam turned it down. But I don’t buy that they offered it to Shavkat because Shavkat was hurt, and I don’t buy that they offered to Khamzat because he ain’t making weight. So, for me, I think it was more so to hype up Leon. Leon doesn’t go on social media, he doesn’t do interviews, he doesn’t hype himself up.

“So, it’s like, Dana White’s a promoter. He has to promote this guy and be like, ‘This guy’s a killer, he said yes to every single fight.’ But if they really wanted him at 300, they knew they could have called me and I would have said yes. It just tells me that they didn’t really want him on 300 or Leon’s a hard guy to deal with. For me, that whole thing was just to hype up Leon and make it seem like he’s a bigger attraction than he really is.”

Despite the long wait, Muhammad has an inkling that an announcement is imminent.

“I feel like something’s going to happen soon,” Muhammad said. “I’m staying positive with it. I know that there’s rumblings of this Manchester card coming up. I don’t even care where, I don’t care the location. I just want a contract with his name on it and a five-round title fight. Please.”

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Kamaru Usman: Belal Muhammad ‘only thing that makes sense’ for UFC champ Leon Edwards

Add Kamaru Usman to the list of fighters that think Belal Muhammad deserves the next title shot.

Add [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] to the list of fighters that think [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] deserves the next title shot.

Muhammad, who’s on a 10-fight unbeaten streak, has been heavily campaigning for a shot at UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, but a fight is yet to materialize for him. The only asterisk in his run is a no contest against Edwards in March 2021.

Former champion Usman agrees with Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC), and sees him as the most logical option next for Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC).

“The only thing that makes sense right now is Belal Muhammad – because Belal has been there for a while, has been in that top 10, that top five,” Usman said on UFC Live. “Who else makes sense? I think it’s going to take time to be able to build someone to challenge the champion.”

After falling short in his middleweight debut against Khamzat Chimaev this past October at UFC 294, Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) finds himself in a quandary.

“I never thought I’d be in this position,” Usman said. “I never thought I would just have a body of work to the point where I can sit back a little bit and let things kind of unfold. For a long time, I was like, ‘I need to get there and be that guy. I need to be champion.’ Now I’m in a position where I don’t have to.

“I definitely want to, but I’m taking time to just kind of see how things unfold because right now the welterweight division is kind of clouded and the middleweight division as well. … I’m just taking some time, letting some things heal and plotting my next move.”

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UFC’s Gilbert Burns apologizes to Belal Muhammad: ‘He does deserve the title shot’

Gilbert Burns takes back what he said about Belal Muhammad not deserving a title shot.

UFC welterweight contender [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag] takes back what he said about [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] not deserving a title shot.

Burns (22-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC) told Middle Easy that he wouldn’t be intrigued by former foe Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) getting the title shot and that he doesn’t deserve it. However, Burns has changed his tune. He admits losing to Muhammad at UFC 288, in a fight where he injured his shoulder early, made him a little bitter.

“I think Belal Muhammad deserves to fight for the title,” Burns said on Renato Moicano’s YouTube channel. “For the numbers, he deserves. The guy has a crazy win streak (of) 10 fights. I think he deserves. To be honest, I just have something that I’m like, the guy beat me.

“I got hurt and then he was talking so much. But I shouldn’t say the way I did. I apologize. I think he does deserves the title shot even though I don’t like the guy very much because I lost to the guy. I was injured, and the guy was kind of like, ‘Oh, I beat Gilbert Burns this way, short notice.’

Despite going unbeaten in his past 10 fights, Muhammad is yet to get his title shot. Burns clarified that while he may not be a fan of Muhammad or his fighting style, that shouldn’t take away from what he’s earned.

“I don’t hate anyone,” Burns said of Muhammad. “I just don’t like him very much because he was saying too much. But I wish the guy the best. I do believe he deserves a title shot. I don’t know if the UFC is going to give him or not because Dana just said, ‘Oh, we ask Leon Edwards three different opponents,’ and the guy is supposed to be the No. 1 contender.

“That way, they don’t give to the guy. But my opinion, I want him to fight for the title. I think he deserves, a lot of hard work. He beat me. He beat (Vicente) Luque. He beat couple good contenders. I think he deserves. He’s not my favorite guy to watch, but he at the end of the day, he’s still getting the win. He does a good job.”

Burns will look to rebound from his loss to Muhammad when he takes on Jack Della Maddalena (16-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) on Saturday at UFC 299 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) from Kaseya Center in Miami.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.

Ian Machado Garry says UFC ‘absolutely’ should book Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad, doesn’t understand hesitation

Ian Machado Garry thinks it’s a no-brainer that Belal Muhammad should get the next UFC welterweight title shot.

[autotag]Ian Machado Garry[/autotag] thinks it’s a no-brainer that [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] should get the next UFC welterweight title shot.

Unbeaten in his past 10 fights, most recently defeating former title challenger Gilbert Burns at UFC 288, Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) has been campaigning for a title shot but to no avail. Garry (14-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) took a big step toward the upper echelon of the division when he defeated Geoff Neal at UFC 298. He’s eyeing Colby Covington next and wants to see welterweight champion Leon Edwards defend his title against Muhammad so the division can move forward.

“I don’t understand this, I really don’t,” Garry said on “The MMA Hour.” “I see it like, for the UFC – Dana always speaks about how he wants to move the division, he wants to keep the champions active, and he wants to get the next guy in motion. I understand that the build-up for Belal and Leon might not be the most entertaining in the world. They’re not the most entertaining to listen to, or the press conference isn’t going to be that big of a build-up.

“But like everything that’s going on in my life at the moment, if the fight is going to live up and be good enough stylistically, why not make it happen? Why not just talk about the fighting? Leon is a phenomenal fighter. Belal is a phenomenal fighter. So let them go at each other and let them see who’s the best in the welterweight division at the moment. I believe they absolutely should make that fight.”

UFC CEO Dana White praised Edwards for accepting every fight offer, but Muhammad appears to imply that he wasn’t one of them – despite continuously being one of few fighters willing to fight during Ramadan, which finishes just days before UFC 300 on April 13.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3mARLzLYgp/

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Belal Muhammad irked by ‘biased’ Michael Bisping’s claim that Leon Edwards dominated first fight

Belal Muhammad dismisses the notion that he was being dominated by Leon Edwards in their first fight.

[autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] dismisses the notion that he was being dominated by [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] in their first fight.

Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) and UFC welterweight champion Edwards battled to a no contest in their March 2021 headliner after Edwards accidentally poked Muhammad in the eye early Round 2, and rendered him unable to continue.

Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC) was able to rock Muhammad with a head kick in Round 1, but Muhammad says they barely fought for that narrative to be drawn. He pointed to Edwards’ title-winning knockout against Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 to support his point.

“They’re going to say, ‘Oh man, he was killing you that first fight,’ but he’s literally the poster boy for why there’s five rounds, right?” Muhammad said on the Overdogs Podcast. “If that was the case, he was getting killed by Usman for four rounds, and we didn’t need the fifth round – but he won in the last 30 seconds of the fifth round. For myself, I get better as the fight goes on. We literally had one round, and it was a 10-9 round.”

Muhammad thinks [autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag] is partially responsible for that narrative, accusing him of showing bias for fellow Brit Edwards.

“People haven’t even really seen the fight for them to say, ‘Oh man, you got killed’ – because it’s just like a narrative, right?” Muhammad said. “‘Leon said he was going to kill him, anyway, so I believe Leon’ – Michael Bisping said that, but Michael Bisping is the most biased person in the world. You can say whatever you want to say.”

Unbeaten in his past 10 fights, Muhammad is expected to be next in line for Edwards. Their rematch has been linked for UFC 300 on April 13, but the matchup has yet to be officially confirmed.

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Sean Brady campaigns for former foe Belal Muhammad to get title shot: ‘There’s nobody else’

Sean Brady would be surprised if someone other than Belal Muhammad got the next title shot.

[autotag]Sean Brady[/autotag] would be surprised if someone other than [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] got the next title shot.

Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) handed Brady his first-career loss when he stopped him by TKO at UFC 280. He has since defeated former title challenger Gilbert Burns at UFC 288 which was dubbed as a No. 1 contender bout.

Despite rumors of a fight against welterweight champion Leon Edwards at UFC 300, Muhammad is yet to receive an official word on a title fight. Brady can’t see any other option than Muhammad, who’s unbeaten in his past 10 fights.

“I’m happy for him that he went on, beat Gilbert – he’s going to fight for the belt next,” Brady said on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “They haven’t announced it, but there’s nobody else. He deserves it. He’s beaten the most guys in the top 10. He deserves it, and I think he has a good chance of doing really well. It’s there for him. He deserves it, and he should get it and I’m happy for him.”

Brady (16-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) rebounded from his loss to Muhammad with a dominant submission of Kelvin Gastelum at UFC on ESPN 52. Although he believes he’d get the best of Muhammad in a rematch, Brady doesn’t understand why fans can’t get behind him.

“I don’t know why he gets so much hate,” Brady said. “He’s not a bad dude. He trains f*cking hard. … He gets a lot of hate, but I’m happy for him. That’s going to be a good fight.”

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24 fights on our 2024 MMA wish list: Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones (still), Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 3, more

Here’s MMA Junkie’s 24-fight wishlist for the new year.

2023 didn’t disappoint in terms of great MMA action, and 2024 looks just as promising, if not more.

With 2024 underway, there’s a new year of fresh possibilities for dream matchups across the MMA landscape, from the UFC to Bellator, PFL, RIZIN FF, ONE Championship and more.

For 2023, unfortunately, only four of the 23 dream fights MMA Junkie wished for came to fruition. We’re not deterred, however, and are back with another slate of 24 matchups we aspire to see in 2024.

Below, we present MMA Junkie’s wish list of 24 fights we’d like to see in 2024.

UFC contender Belal Muhammad says he’s better all around when he trains, fights during Ramadan

Belal Muhammad explains what it’s like to prepare for a UFC fight while observing Ramadan.

[autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] is one of the few Muslim fighters, if not the only one, who doesn’t opt out from preparing for fights during Ramadan.

Muhammad, a top contender in the UFC’s welterweight division, has prepared for fights in the past and will continue to do so while observing Ramadan.

The monthlong Muslim holiday involves fasting and not drinking from dawn to sunset, among other spiritual components. This year, Ramadan is from March 10 until April 9.

Being a professional fighter, one could imagine how hard this may be for an athlete training at their fullest. Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, and other Muslim fighters, have opted out from fighting during the Ramadan. But for Muhammad, he feels it enhances his fighting.

“I think that I’m a better version of myself as a human, as a person, as a Muslim,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie Radio. “When I’m in the right state of mind and at peace, that’s when I’m at my best. In Ramadan, that’s when I’m at my best. Every single fight, every single camp I’ve had doing that – even in the Gilbert Burns fight, I had to do it in the last week. Mentally, the power that I gain from it, it comes into the cage with me.

“The tranquility I have all week leading up, it’s a different feel. I’m not stressing about the fight. I’m giving my time and energy and spirit to God that whole month, so I don’t have to sit there and stress about the stuff I shouldn’t be stressing about. I think it makes me that much better.”

Muhammad is currently unbeaten in his past 10 fights, including nine wins and one no contest to current UFC welterweight champion [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag]. Although it hasn’t been officially announced, many expect Muhammad to fight Edwards next. Recently, Edwards said he’s working with the promotion for a return at UFC 300 in on April 13, which is four days after Ramadan.

Muhammad has no problem fighting Edwards at UFC 300, and feels, if anything, the fasting will give him an edge over the English man.

“Mentally, physically, it’s going to tell me I’m doing things that these guys are not doing,” Muhammad said. “Leon is not doing that. Leon, who’s already weak mentally, he’s going to need a sip of water after every freaking round in practice. Me, I’m going to push through it.”

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Belal Muhammad plans Dagestan training, working with Khabib Nurmagomedov for UFC title fight

Belal Muhammad will look to old pal Khabib Nurmagomedov for advice ahead of his potential UFC title fight vs. Leon Edwards.

[autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] will head across the world ahead of his potential UFC title fight vs. Leon Edwards and hopes to pick the brains of one of the all-time greats.

It won’t be the first time, but Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) will travel to Dagestan to get work in with notables from the region. He hopes to once again get advice from [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag], whom he’s become close with over the years as the two share the same manager.

“I’m planning for sure to go to Dagestan and train with those guys, like you said, to get a new look, to get different feels,” Muhammad recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “Those guys don’t let you take any days off or any easy rounds. That’s always perfect for me. Last time I trained with those guys, we got a dominant finish and I plan to do the same thing.”

When asked if Nurmagomedov has ever led him astray, Muhammad said never. He takes the advice given to him by “The Eagle” as invaluable, a great compliment to the unique training environment Nurmagomedov has established in his team’s training sessions.

“A lot of their stuff that we do when we go live or we go hard is like we’re working,” Muhammad said. “Over here, I do a lot of specific drilling with my team, my guys here. When it’s over there, I’ve got to be ready to go. I’ve got to be ready to be in shape. It’s an uncomfortable feeling. A lot of these guys, they’re not who I’m with every single day. So every round is a lot harder. Every round feels like it’s a new fight. I think that’s an advantage for me because with a lot of these fighters, you don’t get that uncomfortable feeling until you get to fight night where it’s like, ‘Alright, now it’s finally here. I’ve been thinking about this guy for a month.’ You’ve had looks, but you haven’t had the specific guy who’s in front of you right now.

“For me, when I’m over there with those guys, every single one of those guys is a beast and they all have their own style. Every round, you have that uncomfortable feeling of butterflies in your stomach. Here, when I go with my guys, my teammates, you know who’s a hard round. You know what they do. You see them every day. You know what they’re good at. You know what they’re not good at. It’s more of a calm feeling. But when you go with somebody new, somebody different, a new training partner, it gives you that ‘all right’ in your chest a little bit. It makes you go that much harder. It makes you go that much harder. It makes you get a little bit more tired. It makes you have to think more on your feet.”

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Muhammad, 35, is thought by many to be the next likely title challenger for Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC), but nothing is set quite yet. UFC CEO Dana White said in May that Muhammad would be next but was noncommittal at the UFC 296 post-fight news conference in December.

In the weeks that have followed, rumors of a Muhammad title shot at UFC 300 have surfaced after Edwards said the bout was happening during a public appearance.

Belal Muhammad confident Dana White keeps word, expects ‘weak mentally’ Leon Edwards at UFC 300

For Belal Muhammad, it’s full steam ahead toward a UFC title fight vs. Leon Edwards – and he oozes confidence.

It’s all coming together for [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag], at least in his self-assessment.

With a title challenge against [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] rumored for the UFC 300 card April 13 in Las Vegas, Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) recently told MMA Junkie he hasn’t heard any specifics himself. Regardless of the where and when, Muhammad voiced confidence there was no question of “will.”

“I’m just hoping (UFC CEO) Dana (White) is waiting to do one of those epic announcements,” Muhammad recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “But for me, I think it’s the time that’s going to happen. I feel like I’m ready for it. He said he wants to fight on 300. It makes sense but nothing is finalized until I get a contract. Once I get that, I’ll be satisfied. But for now, it’s just knowing that’s the last thing that Dana told me. I’m next. Dana is not a man to go against his word. We’re just waiting for everything to be finalized and set in stone and ready to go.

“… My last fight, we took it on three weeks notice, for Gilbert Burns. It was one of those moments where I was over there and I was like, there was still a lot of unknowns before taking that fight. It was like, ‘Well, it could be this or it could be that. We don’t know what’s next yet.’ But when I took that fight, they’re like, ‘If you beat Gilbert Burns, you’re next.’ So now, there is no more unknown. We know who’s up next for the title fight. Now, it’s the date, which doesn’t even really matter to me. I’ll fight next week. I’ll fight tomorrow. Just give me that title on the line, I’ll show up and be ready to go.”

Muhammad is already in training hard, which isn’t totally unusual for him. His home base is a small gym, Chicago Fight Team, so Muhammad is constantly assisting his teammates with their fights.

For that, and many other reasons, Muhammad will be ready whenever the promotion calls and has some travel plans for his official training camp.

“I’m planning to go to Dagestan and train with those guys, like you said, to get a new look, to get different feels,” Muhammad said. “Those guys don’t let you take any days off or any easy rounds. That’s always perfect for me. Last time I trained with those guys, we got a dominant finish. I plan to do the same thing.”

Muhammad weighed in as the backup fighter for the UFC 296 main event between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington, and pulled no punches in it’s aftermath. Muhammad was unimpressed by the lackluster bout and called it “a joke to the division.”

It’s been nearly three years since Edwards poked Muhammad in the eye, which resulted in an unfortunate no contest. Since then, Muhammad has hankered for a rematch – but to no avail (yet).

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Having closely watched his foe’s path thereafter, Muhammad explained in detail why he feels confident he’ll walk away with the title should the rematch happen.

“The path I had to go since the Leon fight was way different than him,” Muhammad said. “You fought Nate Diaz, who you should’ve been able to walk through. You didn’t. You fought Usman, who was killing you. He had you broken mentally and you landed a head kick. OK. Then, your rematch, you did what you just did to Colby. You made it a lackluster fight. You didn’t fight. You hit and moved, hit and moved, hit and moved. I think it was more so that Usman wasn’t himself that fight because he came back a little bit too soon. I still thought Usman won that fight. If we’re looking at growth, if we’re looking at complete martial artists, if we’re looking at who’s bettering themself, I’ve gotten better every single one of my fights. He hasn’t.”

While they’re unlikely to agree on much, Muhammad echoed Covington’s recent sentiments that Edwards struggles with mental toughness – particularly pointing to coach Dave Lovell’s motivational mid-fight speeches.

“I think Leon having to fight somebody like me, who is hungry, who has been fighting the best guys in the world, it’s going to be a different kind of fight for him,” Muhammad said. “He’s going to realize that when he’s in the cage and his motivational speaker who he has in his corner in between rounds, he can’t really give him advice. ‘Beautiful, Leon. Beautiful.’ When you have coaches like that who give you that type of advice in between (rounds), that just tells me how weak mentally you are. You need those type of guys with you. Like, have David Goggins in your corner because you’re going to need more motivation that ever when you fight me.”

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