“Another Reason To Hate You”: Belal Muhammad Slammed by UFC Fans for Claiming Umar Beat Merab Despite His Dominant Performance

Belal Muhammad found himself in hot waters with many UFC fans after making a bold claim about Umar Nurmagomedov’s performance against Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event of UFC 311. Despite Merab’s dominant showing and earning the unanimous decision victory, Belal, a close friend and training partner of Umar, insisted that the Dagestani had won three of the five rounds.

Fans slammed Belal for his apparent bias in what is an extremely controversial take. Belal has never been the most popular UFC champion, and one fan asserted that such comments only add to the hostility surrounding him. “Thanks for giving everyone another reason to hate you. Idiot”, he said. 

Another fan reminded Belal of the loss he handed to Leon Edwards at UFC 304, comparing it to his take on the Umar-Merab fight and said, “This a L like you gave Leon, champ“.

Despite the trolling, it’s unlikely that Belal is going to change his opinion any time soon. He has long trained with the Dagestani camp and has a really close bond with Umar’s cousin, Khabib. 

Besides, Umar did give Merab one of the toughest fights of his career; at least in the first few rounds.

A closer look at Umar vs. Merab 

It was an intense, back-and-forth battle that had everyone on the edge of their seats. The action started cautiously, with both fighters keeping their distance and feeling each other out.

Umar landed the first solid shot, but Merab answered with a strong leg kick and a big right hand. After stuffing Merab’s takedown attempt, Umar rocked him late in the round, ending the first frame on a high note.

As the second round began, Umar took control of the cage while Merab upped the pressure. Umar landed clean punches and even reversed a takedown attempt to briefly take Merab’s back. Merab, unfazed, kept pressing forward. This was followed by a sharp exchange that left Merab with a cut over his left eye as the round concluded.

The third round is where Merab’s relentless pace started wearing down Umar. But as Umar began fading, Merab upped the ante and constantly shot for takedowns, keeping Umar on the defensive.

Umar landed some clean combos but never looked like hurting Merab by this point in the fight. In the final rounds, Merab’s cardio and aggression took center stage. He again pushed the pace, forcing Umar to defend takedowns and clinches. 

In the end, the fight rightfully went to the champion, who has now had two championship fights within a span of 4 months. He will now be waiting for Sean O’Malley to completely recover from his hip surgery and challenge him for a rematch.

While the fight has not been confirmed, UFC boss Dana White had hinted at it during an interview earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Umar has revealed that he broke his hand in the very first round of the match. So he will likely take a few months to recover before deciding on the next course of action.

However, Umar is still a top-ranked fighter in the bantamweight division and is likely to find himself in the top spot fighting for the title again soon. Hopefully, when he does, it would come on the back of a lot more experience of fighting 5-round matches.