Belal Muhammad wants to fight Sean Strickland, but doesn’t rate the former middleweight champion highly as an opponent.
Muhammad captured welterweight gold this past July when he defeated Leon Edwards via unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 304. “Remember the Name” has since defended the title a few times, but is considering a move to middleweight in the future.
Strickland, who has been at odds with Mohammed over his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stands out as a potential challenger if the move goes ahead.
Sean Strickland makes Belal Muhammad angry 😳
“[Belal] That’s a real shit, brother… Listen, go to Palestine and fight for your country.
Get the hell out of here.
🎥 YouTube / John Bernard
#UFC302 #UFC
#Mixed Martial Arts
pic.twitter.com/p7JOFIjOV8
— Championship Round (@ChampRDS)
May 31, 2024
Muhammad recently reiterated his plans to move up to 185 pounds for a potential rematch after a few title defenses. As for a potential bout with Strickland, Muhammad doesn’t even need a title on the line.
“Yeah, I want to fight Shawn,” Muhammad told Submission Radio. “I don’t have to fight for the belt. I’ll fight him just to fight at 185 pounds.” [pounds]Yeah, that’s a fight I’d love to have at 185 pounds. I’ve got four wins in the top five and when you think about it, I’ve got to have a rematch eventually. There’ll be another rematch. But I think after two fights we can talk. I think it depends on who’s the champion, who’s on top. Because if it was Shawn, I’d love to have that fight for sure and I’d wait for that fight. I don’t think he’s gonna get his hands on the gold again. That guy’s no good.”
But if Strickland does become champion, and at the same time Muhammad is planning on promoting him, he will be putting all his effort into the bout. Muhammad believes Strickland will be an easy fight in every respect. According to Muhammad, Strickland’s recent wins have come against opponents who didn’t fight him smartly. Muhammad claims Strickland is fighting not to lose, and he vows to make it look easy while putting pressure on the former champion.
“I’m going to beat him up,” Muhammad said. “I literally am going to go in there and beat him up. When you think of tough fights, Sean’s not one of them. I think it’s going to be an easy fight for me. He beats a lot of guys with cardio. I have better cardio than him. He beats a lot of guys with his jab. I box better than him. He beats guys with teeps, but they fight him in a set way. They don’t fight him smart. [Paulo] Costa was backing up the whole time and then he got hit with a teep kick. He was backing up the whole time with Adesanya and that fight wasn’t that great either. He plays it safe. He fights not to get hit. He fights not to lose. So I think I can go in there and put pressure on him and beat him and make it look easy, honestly.”
