Since security stopped Belal Muhammad from entering the octagon, Joe Rogan quipped that they didn’t know he was the champion, fighters like Conor McGregor and Kamaru Usman have been trolling him. However, Belal doesn’t mind. The welterweight champion actually knows the security guys and they weren’t letting him in for an entirely different reason.
In an interview with SiriusXM, Belal explains that the security thought he was going to jump into the octagon to pull off a Sean Strickland or Merav Dvalishvili, or something crazy like that.
“They were like, ‘Not you too’. Because earlier that day, they were already on edge because of Nate Diaz and Islam the day before… And then you had Merab almost fight a fan. They were already on the edge and they were like, ‘Belal, what the heck, you are hopping over the barricade, what’s wrong with you? You never do that.'”
But obviously, it ended up being a moment that saw Belal being made fun of.
Conor McGregor goes off on Shavkat Rakhmonov & Belal Muhammad after their face-off pic.twitter.com/4YmMGumv9Y
— Best MMA Moments (@XcellentMMA) December 8, 2024
Belal also excused Rogan’s comments by saying he is a comedian, so “obviously” he was going to make it funny. Then there was his long-standing beef with McGregor and former welterweight champion Usman. The two have taken quite a few potshots at him in the past. So, this wasn’t really a surprise to him either.
“Guys like McGregor and Usman take their shots but that’s all they could do, right? So, that didn’t bother me at all.”
Belal focussed on Rakhmonov
The only reason Belal claims he jumped into the cage was because Rakhmonov had called him out. However, he claims it was also a guilty pleasure of wanting to have one of those classic in-octagon faceoff moments.
Anyway, he couldn’t talk trash to Rakhomonov either since the latter doesn’t speak any English whatsoever.
“I am not a guy who’s gonna fake it, right? So I was not going to go there, do a Brock Lesnar, and push him to the floor or anything crazy like that. But for me, it was so fun to do, have that Dricus-Adesanya moment because it builds off it.”
Belal was supposed to face Rakhmonov at UFC 310 for his first title defense but had to pull out after an infected toe needed some serious medical attention. Despite this, Belal really tried to make it on D-Day, to the point where he has claimed to have even considered amputating the toe.
Thankfully, it didn’t come to that, and rising welterweight star Ian Garry stepped up to the plate and fought Rakhmonov in a #1 contender fight instead.
Garry also managed to put on a show and give Rakhmonov the fight of his life, almost choking him out in the championship rounds.
