Winning a world title in the UFC is a great achievement in itself. But ask any champion with multiple title defenses and they will tell you holding on to the title is greater still. Belal Muhammad credits former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for drilling this concept into him.
Khabib’s words reflect a hard truth in combat sports, becoming champion is only half the battle. Once you have the title, every single fighter in the division moves forward in life with the singular goal of taking the title off of you.
They want to know how you got there, what you did, and what you didn’t. And that allows them a peek into what makes the champion tick. It’s something that Khabib knows better than most. He’s also the best example to follow in such a scenario since the man never lost a fight in his life.
Thankfully, Belal has him as a friend and a mentor, who continues to guide him. Speaking to Barstool Chicago, the welterweight champion credited Khabib for his inputs and said, “Khabib told me, like the first thing he told me after the fight was like, now you’ve got to train twice as hard, because now like the bullseye’s on your back, everybody’s only looking at you and they’re tryna find your weaknesses.”
Belal further elaborated on how success can sometimes change a fighter’s mentality. Many champions, after tasting fame and financial success, become complacent. The hunger that drove them to the top starts to fade, and they no longer push themselves as hard in training. This ultimately leads to their downfall.
Determined not to fall into that trap, he has taken Khabib’s advice to heart, especially since his ambitions aren’t contained to winning the title in one weight class.
After announcing his potential move to 185 lbs, Belal now finds himself in a back-and-forth with the UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis.
‘Dricus can barely walk’
Belal was not very impressed after watching ‘StillKnocks‘ defend his belt against Sean Strickland at UFC 312, going as far as calling the middleweight division a joke. The Palestinian-American was trying to light a fire and his plan definitely worked as the champ responded to his comments in an interview.
Fresh off his dominant rematch win over Sean Strickland, Du Plessis addressed Muhammad’s remarks during an interview on The Ariel Helwani Show.
The South African questioned Belal’s ability to finish fights and suggested that his success hadn’t been as impressive. He further joked that even the UFC didn’t like Belal and wasn’t going to let him move up in weight.
Belal was quick to fire back, taking to Twitter to mock Du Plessis with a response full of laughing emojis and a dismissive jab. Pointing to DDP’s unconventional fighting style, Belal joked and said, “He can barely walk without tripping over his own feet he ain’t touching me.”
he can barely walk wirhout tripping over his own feet he ain’t touching me https://t.co/yw9rY8O06a
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) February 18, 2025
With tensions escalating between the two champions, it remains to be seen whether their war of words will lead to a showdown in the octagon.
