Despite being touted as a “boring” fighter, Belal Muhammad never embraced the dark side, always staying calm and true to his beliefs. Well, his inspiration is now clear, as in a major revelation, the fighter stated how he tried to take after Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov to be an upstanding representation of Islam in MMA.
Speaking on the YouTube channel, Grind City Media, Belal got candid when the interviewer asked him if he had ever thought about changing his approach. In his reply, the welterweight said,
“No, because I never wanted to fake it, never wanted to be out of my character…I always looked up to Khabib (Nurmagomedov), I always looked up to like guy like him who he brought the religion Islam into the sport and the world started learning it from his actions so like I wanted to follow in his footsteps and being that guy.”
In a sport like MMA where the loud guys get the dough, Belal, akin to his role model, chose to stay classy, refusing to talk smack or go overboard with antics. During the conversation, ‘Remember The Name’ also talked about how he admired the undefeated former lightweight champion and his impact on the sport.
Meanwhile, Belal is currently basking in his glory after he snatched the welterweight title from bitter rival Leon Edwards. Furthermore, the Palestinian-American is not looking to take a year off and is down to save PPVs for the UFC.
Belal to emulate Alex Pereria – Ready to save the UFC like the Brazilian
UFC’s lightweight champion, Alex Pereira is the man of the hour when it comes to saving PPVs. As a matter of fact, Conor McGregor’s last-minute pull-out at UFC 303 put the promotion in a rut. as they were unable to finalize a replacement in time. That is when ‘Poatan’ came in as a knight in shining armor, expressing his readiness to replace McGregor and save the promotion with a short-notice title fight.
Alex Pereira and Belal Muhammad having an absolute blast at #UFC292 😅 pic.twitter.com/g1W63o7uOr
— UFC (@ufc) August 20, 2023
In fact, Pereira did more than just save the company from humiliation. The UFC 303 gate featuring him vs Jiri Prochazka recorded one of the top fight gates in the history of the promotion. Now, Belal Muhammad is taking a page out of the Brazilian’s book, as the champ recently sat down with TMZ Sports and revealed his title defense plans.
Teasing December as the perfect time for his return, Belal intends to be a reliable contract employee or in simple terms – a fighter who never says no to a fight- like Pereira.
