Belal Muhammad has long been recognized for his elite grappling skills, but recently, he has been putting a heavy emphasis on sharpening his striking. However, in preparation for his title fight against Leon Edwards, Muhammad, and his coach continuously hyped up his improved boxing, even claiming he had ‘Canelo-level’ hands. However, with Belal now claiming he would be training with Canelo, life seems to have come full circle for the welterweight champion.
Earlier yesterday UFC commentator Jon Anik praised Belal on his podcast and claimed that despite the online trolling, it was Belal’s striking that put Edwards on the backfoot at UFC 304. Anik was spot on. Sure, Belal ended up with multiple takedowns, including one where he dropped Leon on his head, but before he did that, the Palestinian-American fighter outboxed him!
And as soon as Anik reiterated this point, Belal retweeted it, comparing his boxing to the great pugilist of our generation. This resulted in a landslide of comments, some congratulatory in nature, others disparaging. However, the one that stood out and caught Belal’s attention was a question about when fans could see him work out alongside Canelo.
Without much fuss, Belal’s responded to this in affirmative and said, “soon”.
Sooon
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) February 18, 2025
If this comes to pass, it could be a game-changing move for Belal. Canelo is widely regarded as one of the best in the business, with unmatched head movement, counter-punching, and power. Training with the Mexican superstar would provide Belal with invaluable experience as he looks to refine his stand-up game.
Now, the question is, is this real? Is Canelo really going to train with Belal ahead of what is going to be one of the busiest years of his career, one with the Terence Crawford fight?
Only time can tell. Regardless, Belal is on a high right now, unlike ever before. He is all set to defend his welterweight title this year and hopes to soon move on to middleweight. He’s even fired shots at the champion Dricus Du Plessis claiming he could defeat the South African with relative ease.
Of course, DDP is not particularly happy about it.
DDP fires back at ‘Twitter Fingers’
Du Plessis might have won his second title defense against Sean Strickland at UFC 312 but it was arguably the worst performance by a challenger ever in the UFC! Strickland barely pushed the pace, which allowed DDP to dictate momentum and eventually win by unanimous decision.
Belal watched the fight and now believes 185 lbs is the easiest weight class for him to fight in. The welterweight champion, in an interview with Barstool Sports boldly asserted that other than Khamzat Chimaev, there was no real challenge for him there.
Offended, Du Plessis didn’t hold back during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show and dismissed the idea of the Palestinian-American fighter ever making it to middleweight. Asserting that the promotion, won’t ever let it happen, he said, “I like how he acts as if he has a choice to ever go up to 185 [lbs]. The UFC will never let him… The UFC doesn’t even like Belal Muhammad. So what makes him think that? He hasn’t even defended his belt once. He’s definitely better on Twitter than he is in fights.”
“I like how [Belal Muhammad] acts as if he has a choice to ever go up to 185. The UFC will never let him… The UFC doesn’t even like Belal Muhammad. So what makes him think that? He hasn’t even defended his belt once. He’s definitely better on Twitter than he is in fights.
[A… pic.twitter.com/5ubXuGtkDT
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 18, 2025
DDP is speculating at best here. Belal had defeated pretty much all his competition in the 170 lbs division even before making it to the title. So, if he is successful in defending the 170 lbs belt against Shavkat Rakhmonov, there aren’t a whole lot of viable contenders left for him to fight.
And Belal knows that; hence the antics on Twitter. It seems to be working for him as well. Normally Du Plessis’ trash talks involve accepting challenges and fighting back. But this just seems to have gotten under his skin.