Four battles before he became UFC champion, drowned a top 5 candidate.
The road to gold from Belal Muhammad was long and hard, had to win nine fights in a row and wait more than a year to get his chance at champion Leon Edwards last summer at UFC 304.
Muhammad from Chicago set up a relatively dominant performance to win the title, now set to defend it in the main event of UFC 315 this weekend against polished striker Jack della Maddalena.
A wrestler in heart and soul that is getting better in the boxing department has previously dominated Mohammed so many strikers – including the legendary Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson.
In December 2021, Muhammad handed the former title -the most skewed decision of his career.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Belal Muhammad scored more Takedowns on Stephen Thompson than anyone else
Thompson is largely regarded as the best karate bow tie that ever concerns the UFC, above that with former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.
'Wonderboy' was an undefeated kickboker on 57-0 with 39 knockouts before he became a member of the UFC ranks where he won Robert Whittaker, Rory Macdonald, Johny Hendricks and Jorge Masvidal.
Thompson's Kryptonite in the Octagon has always been wrestling people, confronted with the style several times, but nobody realized the success that Muhammad had against Thompson at the UFC Apex.
Mohammed fought in a smaller cage and did not let Thompson hit the feet after the first minute. Muhammad quickly closed the distance for his first of different Takedowns on the Karate-Striker.
Muhammad landed many land and pounds of top control and tried a kimura entry in round 2 with Thompson who used the cage to hold his arm in place. Muhammad took Thompson 7 times in their fight, more than any other opponent 'Wonderboy' fought.
Thompson was checked for almost 12 minutes of their 15-minute fight (79.7%) and lost by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-26) after a very one-sided third round on the ground.
Belal Muhammad had to fight 3 times for UFC title shot
#10 At that time arranged, Muhammad broke in the Welterweight Top-5 by beating Thompson, an eternal competition with two title fights to his name.
Despite the complete exclusion of a dangerous striker like 'Wonderboy', Mohammed still had to fight again … and again … and again for his final title shot against Leon Edwards.
In his next 3 fights after Thompson, Muhammad threw an earlier loss for #4 Competier Vicente Luque in a five -round decision, TKO has dominated the current #1 competition Sean Brady and dominated former title Challenger Gilbert Burns in five rounds in the short term.
Muhammad had to wait more than a year to fight for the title, in which Colby Covington got the chance for him of a only victory over Jorge Masvidal.