Belal Muhammad is fighting for more than championship gold at UFC 315

From the first time Belal Muhammad walked into the Valle Flow Striking Academy in Bensenville, Ill., head coach Mike Valle knew the local welterweight was different, and carried the potential to be something special.

“Obviously he has his determination, but he was so eager to learn, so eager to listen, and so coachable,” explained Valle, who came up at the famous Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, N.M., and has been around elite talents and world champions throughout his coaching career. “He was not great at anything, but he wanted to learn everything, every day.”

Valle described a Michael Jordan-like obsession and a work ethic he saw in Muhammad “where practice finishes, and tomorrow he’s up at six in the morning to go for a three-mile run just to cool off.”

Muhammad was never considered a blue-chip prospect but when you’re as dedicated as he is and surround yourself with likeminded trainers and teammates, it can result in greatness.

It took Muhammad 12 years and 28 pro fights to become the undisputed UFC welterweight champion yet the improbable accomplishment was no fluke.

“The circle he has has to be about fighting and getting better, and that’s how he’s conducted these past years, and that’s why you see all the success he’s been having,” Valle said. “He’s so unique. He has that ‘it factor’ everybody talks about.”

This weekend at UFC 315 presented by Skilled Trades College, Muhammad will attempt to defend his title and provide some inspiration along the way.

Ironically, unlike how Valle views Muhammad, “unique” is not a word that has often been associated with the reigning 170-pound champ and even fewer would likely suggest the 36-year-old from Chicago has the “it factor” associated with superstar talents and transcendent athletes.

Until last summer, the words more frequently associated with Muhammad were the usual collection of dismissive descriptors bestowed upon anyone deemed uncool or not entertaining enough when they step into the cage.

He was boring and corny. A one-trick pony that just wrestles, and someone who isn’t as good as he thinks he is. Muhammad was the guy that every other welterweight hopeful, including former champion Leon Edwards, didn’t want to hear from or hear about, because to them he didn’t move the needle and generating buzz was more important than the results he was putting up inside the cage.

Even his victories — five straight prior to his UFC 304 title win over Edwards in Manchester, England last summer and a double-digit unbeaten streak dating back to his January 2019 loss to Geoff Neal — carried asterisks and explanations.

He didn’t really engage with Demian Maia or Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Vicente Luque was washed. The win over Sean Brady was considered a fraud check for the Philadelphia powerhouse at the time. Gilbert Burns was hurt.

Then Muhammad crossed the pond and dominated Edwards, putting a pace on him that caused the British champion to wilt like spinach in a warm pan, and the time for dismissing and ignoring the new ruler of the division instantly came to an end.

“It feels so good!” Muhammad said a wide smile spreading across his face. “They were ignoring me, they didn’t want to talk about me, but now any time I say a word, it gets headlines. I’m excited for it because now I know I can keep talking. People are saying, ‘Why’s he talking all this trash now?’ Bro, I’ve been talking trash, I’ve been saying it, but they were trying to ignore it, act like I didn’t belong, act like I didn’t exist.”

While most everyone else was slow to accept that the indefatigable grinder was and is the genuine article, Muhammad, Valle, and the small team assembled in the Chicago suburbs have known for quite some time, and didn’t mind taking the long road to the top of the welterweight division.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The closing of Robert Frost’s well-known poem is a perfect encapsulation of the difference between Muhammad and many of his contemporaries.

While many favour the path of least resistance and aim to bolster their stardom through social media, and forced animosity and bravado, Muhammad has readily, happily stepped up to face every tough challenge that has been placed in front of him, doing so while remaining the same corny, motor-mouthed dude he’s always been.

Muhammad had a four-fight winning streak snapped when his first meeting with Edwards in 2021 ended in a no-contest because Muhammad was on the receiving end of an eye poke that rendered him temporarily unable to see and therefore unable to continue.

That painful setback did not derail his ambition nor drive. He kept plugging away and each time his name was called, Muhammad answered then marched into the Octagon to handle his business.

He faced a string of top-10 opponents, including three former title challengers, an all-action finisher, and an unbeaten and highly regarded emerging talent – and he did so all while frequently asking for an opportunity to run it back with Edwards.

He lost just nine of a possible 50 rounds in his consecutive wins over Maia, Thompson, Luque, Brady, and Burns, posting lopsided totals against “Wonderboy” and bounced Brady from the ranks of the undefeated.

For Valle, the win over Maia was actually when he truly began believing his charge had what it took to rise to the top of the UFC’s welterweight ranks.

“Did I believe in my heart that he was going to be a world champion? Yes, for sure, but every fight is different,” began the humble coach, who also works with women’s bantamweight titleholder Julianna Pena, former interim featherweight champ Yair Rodriguez, and emerging lightweight Ignacio Bahamondes. “Once you’re in a fight and you see him perform in a certain way — people call it boring, but to me, as a coach, where I said, ‘This guy can really follow a game plan and stay disciplined,’ was the Demian Maia fight.

“People will say, ‘a boring fight,’ but just to stay disciplined with a guy like Demian Maia — not to get engaged with his takedowns, not to get into a brawl, and by no means let this guy take your back — so for him to stay disciplined through that fight was, ‘Okay, there is something special here. This guy can maintain positions and execute things to a tee.’”

Though it took until that expertly navigated matchup with the ever-dangerous Brazilian grappling ace for the coach to fully realize he had a genuine championship contender in his ranks, Muhammad was certain that was the case much earlier.

Heading into his UFC 258 bout with Dhiego Lima, Muhammad was the No. 13-ranked welterweight contender, struggling to make headway and garner the marquee assignments needed to work his way forward in the talent-rich division.

That event was headlined by a title fight between then-champ Kamaru Usman and future opponent Burns and took place just a month before his no-contest with Edwards. Muhammad was ready to raise his hand had one if that night’s title fight combatants needed replacing because even then “Bully B” was sure that he had what it took to hang with the division’s elite.

Four years later, he’s the champion set for his first title defence in the UFC’s long-awaited return to Montreal against Jack Della Maddalena this Saturday.

“It just feels so good. I didn’t have to fake anything,” Muhammad said of his long and arduous journey to UFC gold. “I’m blessed to be here, and even to have been able to take that road. I learned so much on that road, I grew so much on that road. The hard road was the best road. It was meant for me to go through all those trials and tribulations because now I appreciate it that much more.”

THE HUNTER BECOMES THE HUNTED

After several years of chasing down every opponent he needed to in order to finally secure a championship opportunity against Edwards, UFC 315 marks the beginning of Muhammad’s time with a target on his back.

The guy no one wanted to hear from or talk about has become the guy everyone in the division is chasing, and once again, the new champion wants to do things differently than his predecessors and several others that have held UFC gold in other weight classes.

“I want to be that champion that isn’t like the old champions, where it was, ‘How many followers does he have? He doesn’t have two million followers, I’m not gonna fight him. Does he wear a stupid costume at the weigh-ins? I’m not gonna fight him.’”

Muhammad smirked and chuckled before continuing.

“Naw. ‘How long is his streak? Does he have multiple wins in a row? Alright, let’s go.’ When the UFC calls me with a name, I’m gonna say ‘yes’ no matter who it is. I’m not gonna pick-and-choose as the champion,” he added. “For me, I just keep adding these names on. I have five top-10 wins, and I wanna get six, I wanna get seven, I wanna get eight, I wanna get nine, I wanna get 10. I wanna beat all these guys.

“Line ’em up and call me.”

Following his title win in July, the new champion’s first defence was originally scheduled to take place in December opposite unbeaten contender Shavkat Rakhmonov, but a few weeks prior to UFC 310, Muhammad came down with a bone infection in his foot that required him to withdraw from the contest.

Even five months later, the anguish about having to pull out of that matchup is still apparent in his voice.

“Honestly, it was one of the hardest things that I had to do,” Muhammad explained. “I had to go six weeks without training at all, and I literally can’t go a day without working out, without doing something. To have to sit down and stop — I had to take an IV of antibiotics every morning, and it sucked, especially when you win the title. I want to be active, and we had a quick turnaround, about to do a main event in Vegas, it was heartbreaking. But also, I felt like it was meant to be.”

The champ is not accustomed to lengthy periods in between fights but during his hiatus over the winter he found a silver lining.

“That time off made me love the sport that much more,” he explained. “Made me realize how much I need this sport, how much it means to me, and hyped me up a little bit.

“God has a plan for everything, so maybe it was God protecting me from burnout, God protecting me from hurting myself by going to hard, hopping right back into a camp. You never know the reason for anything, but I’ve trusted God’s plan and it’s gotten me to the title, so I’m gonna keep doing it.”

In true fight game fashion, once Muhammad was cleared, back in the gym, and awaiting confirmation of his delayed initial title defence, it was Rakhmonov’s turn to be unable to compete, as the undefeated contender from Kazakhstan was sidelined with an undisclosed injury that will keep him out of action at least through spring.

So the UFC shuffled the deck. The organization slid Brady into a Fight Night main event opposite Edwards in London in March, pulling Della Maddalena from off card and into this weekend’s main event against Muhammad in Montreal.

The Australian challenger lost his first two professional bouts back in 2016 and has won 17 straight since, including on Season 5 of Dana White’s Contender Series to earn a UFC contract, and in each of his first seven UFC appearances.

Following a pair of decision wins in the back half of 2023, Della Maddalena fought just once in 2024, registering a come-from-behind knockout win over Burns at UFC 299, where he suffered a forearm injury that has kept him out of action.

“To be honest, Shavkat represents a certain style that we’re very familiar with; that Dagestani style,” began Valle, speaking about the injured contender before shifting his focus to the man they’ll face this weekend. “I have a Dagestani coach in the gym, so you could understand it more. Whenever it comes to that, we can kind of simulate the striking through (a bunch of the guys we have in the gym).

“But Jack comes from a very refined striking, very polished striking (background). When he fought Gilbert Burns, there were some pretty high-level exchanges on the ground. Yeah, he got taken down, but he knows what he’s doing. He’s the dark horse. He’s always there, he’s always behind, but he always wins.

“There are certain areas where he’s very, very, very dangerous. People may not see it, but I see those things. By no means are we taking it easy. We’re focusing on the things we need to get better at.”

The champion welcomes a matchup with another no-nonsense welterweight that is consistently entertaining and approaches things the right way and looks forward to the opportunity to showcase more of what he brings to the table this weekend.

“There is nothing fake about him,” Muhammad said of Della Maddalena. “When people tell me, ‘talk trash’ or ‘do this’ — I don’t need to fake it. They wanna watch him fight. They’re gonna wanna watch this fight. It’s gonna be all-action.

“I love different challenges. When I look at him, he’s a challenge because people think he’s a better striker than me, but I’m gonna go out there and out-strike him. I’m gonna show you that I’m the better striker. I’m a better version of him, and he hasn’t seen anybody like me. That’s always my goal: to be that version where when I’m done with the fight (people are saying), ‘We never saw that. We didn’t know he could do that. We didn’t know that was possible.’

“People try to put you in one little box and think you’re only (that one thing). But real ones — real analysts, real people that watch fighting and understand fighting — they know that I can do it all, and I’m not the same version every fight.”

FIGHTING FOR SOMETHING MORE

As Muhammad counts down the days and hours to his first title defence, he does so with tandem goals running on parallel tracks.

On the professional front, he wants to establish himself as the greatest welterweight champion of all time, which makes the fact that Saturday’s fight card takes place in the backyard of the man who currently holds that designation, Georges St-Pierre, quite fitting.

“I’m sure he’s gonna be in the front row watching it, and I want it to be a passing of the torch,” Muhammad said.

St-Pierre, who successfully defended the welterweight title nine consecutive times during his career, will be at UFC 315 helping corner Aiemann Zahabi who faces Jose Aldo on the main card.

Several others have held the same ambition as the current welterweight champ, with Kamaru Usman coming closest to achieving the feat by defending the belt five times, even though his five defences came against just three opponents (Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal twice and Burns once), and although he showed his championship mettle during his reign, suggesting he was close to running level with St-Pierre always felt a little premature.

Muhammad certainly has a long way to go, and he knows it, but he loves the current landscape of the division.

“I love where the division is now, I love where the champion is now,” he said with another smile. “There is nothing fake about me: I’m just a pure martial artist that continues to get better and didn’t have to take a different path to get to the top. I didn’t have to be something I’m not.

“GSP was always that guy when he was the champ, when he was on his way to the top, and he never changed for anything. I’m glad I was able to do it too. It took us a longer road to get here, but we’re here now and we’re not letting it go.”

A big part of the reason Muhammad has such a tight grip on the division at the moment and no interest in relinquishing his spot atop the division is because his championship belt carries a far greater significance and impact than simply being a symbol of personal achievement.

The 36-year-old titleholder is a first-generation Palestinian-American, and he has never shied away from being proud of his heritage. Each time he walks to the Octagon, Muhammad does so with the Palestinian flag draped over his shoulders, and over the last year and change, the importance of being a symbol of hope for his people has only been elevated.

“For me, the fight doesn’t really mean anything,” said Muhammad, his voice quieting, his tone becoming understandably more somber as he spoke about the Palestinian people currently suffering at home and those feeling the hurt worldwide. “It’s to be able to carry that flag for them, to be able to fight for them, to have a belt for them, and to give them something.”

It’s not just words of support and actions in the Octagon that Muhammad is putting forth either, as his family welcomed a father and young son, Jood, from Gaza into their home last year, prior to his title fight, through The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide medical relief to children in the Middle East.

“Jood, who my sister helped bring back from Gaza, he had to have another surgery recently on his leg,” Muhammad continued. “And to see the pain that he’s going through, as a kid, but also seeing him playing with toys, smiling, laughing, and just being so tough, it makes you realize there are thousands of kids over there that don’t have the opportunities that he has, don’t have the luxury to be here, have real doctors take care of him. It makes me want to work that much harder, go that much harder because I’ve gotta win for them.

“For me, it’s always bigger than myself. It’s always bigger than clout and things like that. I have to win for them.”

And should get his hand raised this weekend in Montreal, don’t expect the champion to sit back, put his feet up, and rest on his laurels.

“We’re not looking passed Jack, but for me, God-willing, we’re still healthy after that fight, we want to get right back in there, see who’s next,” offered the champion. “UFC gives me a date, I answer the call, and we get going.”

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