In his first defense of the Welterweight title, Belal Muhammad did not play his strengths during the fight.
The champion stood and exchanged with his challenger for the majority of the five round competition, in which Jack della Maddalena beat Mohammed through a unanimous decision.
It now seems that the lightweight champion comes up to challenge the new title holder on 170 pounds, with Della Maddalena taking on Islam Makhachev in the near future.
As far as Muhammad thinks about the fight in a post on social media, it is difficult to see where he returns to the division as soon as he returns.
'Remember the name' was not at his best on 10 May and the coach of the Great Khabib Nurmagomedov believes that he knows why.
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty images
Javier Mendez says that Belal Muhammad tried too hard to prove a point on UFC 315
In an interview with Submission Radio, Javier Mendez stated that he was surprised to see that Belal Muhammad would not implement his wrestling on UFC 315.
The champion had said in the construction of the fight that he would stand and hit Jack della Maddalena, but this finally played in the game of his opponent.
Mendez believes that this was Mohammed who tried to prove a point and answer part of the criticism with which he has confronted in recent years.
“None of us thought that Belal could beat him, just get up, so he wanted to do what none of us thought he could do, that's what I think. I could be wrong, but that seemed to me.”
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Mendez continued to say that Khabib Nurmagomedov often had the same mentality during his career where he wanted to show people how his striking had improved.
'The Eagle' did exactly that, but he still largely relied on his grasping skills to retain the lightweight title without ever tasting the defeat.
Mendez said that through the career of Nurmagomedov, he constantly tried to keep him sticking to the skills that divorced him from everyone else instead of convincing others how good he was.
“I used to be on Khabib because Khabib, everyone always criticized him because he was not good at standing out. I would always keep him on the right track, but he would always go from the circuit to prove people that he could stand, and he could stand while the fighting went later.
“Later he was able to look very good, extremely good. But I still didn't like that because I wanted him to go back to what made him the best and that is the mistake that many hunters make. They want to prove their point.”
Javier Mendez gives Jack della Maddalena a part of the honor for the unusual performance of Belal Muhammad
Although there were some questions about the approach of Belal Muhammad, that should not be used to remove part of the shine from Jack della Maddalena.
The Underdog Challenger has done the best performance of his career to beat the champion at the feet and to leave the fight.
Javier Mendez acknowledged this when he thought about the main event of UFC 315, giving Della Maddalena the honor for a victory that will bring his career to new heights.
“At the same time, Jack did not allow him to do those opportunities. But Jack did a great job. He combines his punches and his stairs very well, keeps his distance really good, remained in the middle for most of the time. He is just a really good hunter everywhere.”