The Championship Ego of Belal Muhammad may have received the best of him on UFC 315.
For the first time in a while, the UFC champion Welterweight could not fight against his usual fight against a much cleaner and fresher Jack della Maddalena in five rounds of action.
Muhammad had his moments on the feet, but it was Della Maddalena who had the better shots and 'remember the name' with his boxing.
Belal Muhammad has known for the smother of his opponents in the wrestling department and chose to stop most of the fight with JDM, and only secured 3 branchedowns in 25 minutes, considerably less than his other fights against Spitsen Thompson (7) and Leon Edwards (9).
Muhammad showed more of his 'Canelo Hands' than his all-round game who won the title to him, the belt lost to Della Maddalena by unanimous decision.
In the aftermath of UFC 315, an ex-PUC medical part has criticized an 'unwise' Muhammad because he did not use his keys to victory in his first title defense.
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty images
Josh Thomson compares the performance of Belal Muhammad with Ronda Rousey
Months before the title fight took place in Montreal, Muhammad claimed in the run -up that he would not have to shoot for a Takedown on Della Maddalena, insistently that he could beat the punching exchanges.
Muhammad's confidence was reinforced by his striking coach, who claimed that the UFC champion had hands as a legendary boxer Canelo Alvarez prior to his title-winning performance against Leon Edwards on UFC 304 last summer.
“Did exactly what he said he was going to do,” said former UFC light weight Josh Thomson about the approach of Muhammad on UFC 315 on the roads in podcast.
“I advised, but he did it.
“Is this one of those things that a coach came in your head and suddenly now that you are like Ronda Rousey? Like, they believe that you could beat Floyd Mayweather?” Thomson said Mohammed tried to beat Della Maddalena in his own game.
Once recommended to beat Floyd Mayweather and half of the men's Bantamweight Division by Joe Rogan, Ronda Rousey was put twice in the stand-up by Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes after she had not determined them with her Judo skills of world class that had won her so many fights.
Josh Thomson says that Belal Muhammad 'chose not to fight like Gilbert Burns
Looking back on the performance of Muhammad, Thomson believes that the champion wanted to avoid a boring fight, because much of his earlier criticism comes from the downing of opponents and his inability to find the finish.
“I had something like that, please don't tell me that you do that,” Thomson said about Muhammad.
“Was it because, such as:” Look, I am now the champion, I have reached my goal, and now I am going to show the UFC that I can be fun … “Such as, why?”
Many believed that Mohammed would need an approach like Gilbert Burns if he wanted to defend his title against Della Maddalena.
Former title Challenger Burns gave Della Maddalena the most difficult fight for his UFC career last year when he won two rounds of him with 7 Takedowns. Despite a broken arm, Della Maddalena could score a comeback TKO late in the fight.
“Everyone says:” Oh, he is going to bring JDM down. He is going to control … “They kept going back to the Gilbert Burns fight.
“Now he might have done that,” said Thomson about Mohammed.
“He just chose not to do that. I have no idea why …”