Athletes
Belal Muhammad Welcomes All Doubters
Welterweight Champion Belal Muhammad Relishes Proving People Wrong, And He Aims To Add More Accolades To His Resume Starting With A Win At UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena
Life is different when you’re the one on top. The microphones and cameras that once turned away from you now bend toward you. Peers and potential opponents who once did not give you the time of day now must give you their full attention and respect. No matter what detractors have to say, the stone cold fact is: the champ is the champ.
That is all to say: Belal Muhammad is enjoying life on the welterweight throne.
“Before, when I was calling these guys out, saying their names, everybody avoided me (and) ignored me,” Muhammad told UFC.com after a training session at Valle Flow Striking in Chicago. “Now they're all trying to hear (me). I could tweet out one thing, and they’ll say something. I got a lot of random cousins that popped up out of nowhere (laughs).”
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For the last nine months, Muhammad’s name has been on the tip of every welterweight’s tongue. He earned that spotlight after defeating Leon Edwards in Manchester at UFC 304, extending his unbeaten streak to 12 fights dating back to April 2019. It was a long, arduous road, and the title-winning effort was every bit the gritty, nonstop grind Muhammad made his signature along the way.
Since then, he and his Valle Flow Striking teammates have followed in his footsteps in style. Under the direction of Mike Valle and company, Julianna Peña regained the bantamweight belt, Ignacio Bahamondes extended his finishing streak to three (most recently submitting Jalin Turner at UFC 313), and Yair Rodriguez is fresh off a decision win over Patricio Pitbull at UFC 314.
As the saying goes, a rising tide raises all ships, and the fleet coming out of Chicago is riding an impressive wave of success.
Order UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena
“I'm excited just because my team, my family, they've been with me since the beginning,” Muhammad said. “It was a long journey for all of us to get here, and I know how much it means to them, and I know how much it means to myself that we didn’t take no shortcuts and we did it all together and we're going to continue to do it all together. I take it to heart that we're a small team and people weren't talking about us, but now we have two world champions here and we continue winning, continue growing, and we continue to be the best.”
From all indicators, Muhammad hasn’t let the time in the spotlight change much about him. The 36-year-old takes a lot of pride in the fact that he made his way up the ladder while staying in Chicago, not really considered an MMA hotbed but where he was born and raised.
On top of that, Muhammad has used the increase in attention on him to continue to shine a light on the daily struggles of the Palestinian people amidst the conflict with Israel. It’s a hot button topic that some would and have shied away from so as to avoid any controversy, but Muhammad, who proudly flies the Palestinian flag before and after fights, believes it is his responsibility to share the horrors of war going on there.
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“The belt doesn't mean much to me; the belt gives me the platform to speak about Palestine,” he said. “The belt gives me a platform to carry that flag, and when I carry that flag, people notice it. People want to know what that flag means. Why do I carry it? Who do I carry it for? There are people that don't have a voice right now. They don't have nobody with the platform that I have to speak up for them. So, for myself, I have to do it. My parents are from there, my family's from there. My brothers lived there. They went to school there. Their blood runs through it deep. And I know the people over there, they're fighting the real fight. They're the real warriors.
“I have to keep winning for them because when they see me win, they win. They have a smile on their face, I've gotten so many messages, letters from people over there.”
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Although that responsibility carries weight, Muhammad views it as motivation.
Even if he is sore, worn down or struggling through the rigors of a fight camp, he knows people close to his heart are fighting through so much more.
“I know that I'm doing it for something bigger,” Muhammad said. “I'm doing it for them. I have to push harder for them. There's nothing that's going to break me mentally, physically, because I know how hard they push. They're still, every single day, they're still fighting, they're still smiling every single day, thanking God that they're alive, thanking God that they’re breathing, thanking God they still have another day to live. And it just makes me more grateful for what I have every day. I'm blessed. I can train here under a roof, with food, with water any time I want, and I know how good I have it. So, this hard work is nothing.”
All that work is currently aimed at his first title defense at UFC 315 in Montreal. Originally, many believed he would face the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov. The two even faced off following Rakhmonov’s win over Ian Machado Garry at UFC 310, but an injury changed those plans, and after some shuffling, Australia’s Jack Della Maddalena got the call.
Muhammad joked that he was surprised as anyone and took a little satisfaction in the fact that Della Maddalena was originally slated to face Edwards.
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Despite the surprising challenger, Muhammad is giving his full respect and attention to the Perth native. Beyond the training partners he works with regularly, like Bahamondes and Charles Radtke, Muhammad has brought in a gang of UFC talent like Jared Gordon, Gerald Meerschaert and Ramiz Brahimaj to help him prepare.
“When you're the champion, it doesn't matter who they put in front of you,” Muhammad said. “He's another guy with a lot of hype, another guy that people are thinking is going to beat me. I'm excited for it. I like those type of challenges, especially another guy with a multiple fight winning streak, double digits. I just took Leon's 12-digit winning streak. Now Jack has 10. I took Brady's 15-digit winning streak. So, I plan to keep doing the same thing.
We break down guys to a different level, and I think with Jack we're going to do the same exact thing. We're going to break him down and then we're going to break into the cage.”
Muhammad is open about his goal to be known as the greatest welterweight ever. In a division that has seen champions like George St-Pierre and Kamaru Usman, Muhammad understands the breadth of that task, which starts with stacking title defenses together.
He’s happy to put in the work, however, just as he is happy to take on all comers. The division is arguably as interesting as it has ever been. After Della Maddalena and Rakhmonov, the title picture includes Sean Brady, who just dismantled Edwards and is keen on a rematch with the champion. Joaquin Buckley is becoming a sort of boogeyman in the Top 10 after besting Colby Covington for his fourth win in 2024 alone. Machado Garry is probably the highest profile of the young faces on the rise, but Carlos Prates and Michael Morales are right on his tail.
And all their sights are set on what Muhammad has. Even if the wider fan base has yet to hand Muhammad his flowers for what he has accomplished, he knows that will eventually come. He also knows that isn’t what matters most. He appreciates getting messages from people like Tyron Woodley, acknowledging the long and hard road Muhammad took to where he is now. It’s all part of his story, and it’s all part of what is driving him for more.
“At the end of the day, like I said, those people they don’t know the work that I put in; it's for the people that are around me, the real fighters. Daniel Cormier always told me when I was on my come-up, ‘I don't know why they hate you, but just know they hated me. They booed me, and then I became the loved one.’ (Fans) don't know what they have until it's gone, but for myself, it was never about the fan love. It was about just the glory, getting my hand raised and continue winning and continue proving doubters wrong. I’d rather have the doubters. I want the doubters. I want people to tell me that I can't do it, so that I could keep proving them wrong. It is the one thing that motivates me more than anything.”
UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena took place live from Bell Centre in Montréal, Québec, Canada on May 10, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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