Belal Muhammad believes that popularity has a lot to do with which fighter gets the title shot. Despite having cleaned up the division, it took him years to get a title shot. So, he is not wrong in his assertion.
Well, it does make sense seeing as the UFC has to try and make fights that sell. So the fights that will make the company more money will naturally be a priority for them.
And since Belal has never been a big name, trash talking, podcast hosting, fancy car driving character, it’s taken a good few years before he was given his due. In a recent interview with Demetrious Johnson on YouTube, he asserted that people didn’t respect hard work anymore and that’s why true martial artists don’t get respected anymore.
Talking further about the entertainment business, he said,
“Obviously it’s the entertainment business, it’s about getting people to buy in…I’m not gonna sell my soul, so I’m not gonna be this character or get outlandish.”
Belal Muhammad called out the fans for liking the ‘W*ed smokers’ (Sean O’Malley), and the trash talkers (Sean Strickland). There could be a lot of truth to what he is saying.
There’s a well known folklore in the UFC about Colby Covington being a nice guy, good wrestler, who got wins but was about to be cut by the UFC when he decided to change his persona.
Credit: IMAGO
Covington’s deeply problematic stance on everything, his MAGA hat and making fun of people’s late parents, got him the spotlight and that has meant, at least 3 title fights against the last two welterweight champion. What’s funnier or sadder, is that Belal was cleaning up the rest of the division while all of this was taking place. This is cannon!
This is of course a far cry from the ‘old days’ where Belal believes fighters like Georges St-Pierre and Demetrious Johnson were known for their skills inside the octagon and were respected for it. That said, even in that era, someone like Chael Sonnen could lose fights but talk himself into title shots because of his personality.
So, perhaps, not a lot has changed, even if the UFC welterweight champion enjoys the occasional trip on the greener pastures at the nostalgic avenue.
All romanticization of the UFC culture aside, Belal understands there’s an issue, and since he’s at the receiving end on it, he’s made it a point to call out everyone, including the fighters he feels get shots only because they are popular.
Belal explains beef with Strickland
Belal Muhammad despises Sean Strickland. Because as the saying goes, ‘Here’s the thing, guys’…
Strickland has made it his mission to say the most ridiculous things that always pop into his mind. And on most days, it’s all pointless gibberish, coming from a place of ignorance.
But when real lives are being lost to soulless malevolence, jokes from a point of privilege tend to not sit well.
In an interview with Money Loyalty Legacy on YouTube earlier this year, Belal talked about what was happening in Palestine, in regards to the death of thousands of innocent people. But while he was on the subject, he also referred to something Strickland had commented about the matter.
“I posted one thing about Palestine… and he said something like ‘they need to just give up’…Somebody like that who’s sitting there, laughing at people dying making a joke out of it. It just shows what type of person he is…”
Strickland, of course, doesn’t understand the humanitarian crisis in Gaza right now, but it’s not expected of him either, since he has time and again proven his inability to grasp basic concepts like women’s rights, LGBTQ rights and human rights in general.
But since it gets him in the news and on everyone’s Twitter feeds, there’s a good chance it will all translate into tickets for his fights, which makes Belal’s original point just as relevant as anything else in this business.
