Belal Muhammad doesn’t see any reason to kick someone when they’re down.
This past weekend (Aug. 20, 2022) at UFC 278 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the champion of Muhammad’s 170 pound weight class, Kamaru Usman, was toppled. Rematching No. 3-ranked contender, Leon Edwards, Usman found himself firmly in control of the bout from round two until minute four of the fifth and final. Then disaster struck in the form of a perfect Edwards left high kick, stealing away the title (watch highlights).
Memes aplenty have already made their way around the internet with mass amounts of reactions included. Two of which that stood out came from Conor McGregor and Jake Paul, who posted versions of them laughing at Usman’s expense on Twitter. Witnessing the colossal comeback win live in person, Muhammad wasn’t too pleased.
“When you’re seeing guys like that, even Conor McGregor, you know how it feels to lose in a championship fight,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “You know how it feels to lose in front of your family. Just seeing Usman’s daughter there and how she broke down. It’s heartbreaking and you know what it takes to get in there if you’re a Conor McGregor. But if you’re Jake Paul, you don’t know what it is to get be in there, you don’t know what it takes to get in there.
“These guys that kick the guy when they’re down, it just shows what kind of person they are,” he continued. “They’re just looking for that attention. Conor McGregor’s looking for that attention. Jake Paul’s looking for that attention. Jake Paul is just trying to change the narrative. He’s a guy that’s like, ‘Oh I can sell a million pay-per-views, oh this guy didn’t want to fight me at 185,’ so his whole show got canceled because he’s not as big a draw as he thinks he is.”
Usman wasn’t the only target of Paul’s at UFC 278. The YouTube star-turned boxer also took shots at the co-main event competitors, Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold.
Generally humble, yet confident, with his words, Muhammad can’t find a need for these types of responses and potshots. “Remember the Name” is back in action on Oct. 22, 2022, at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“We live in a troll world, we live in a Twitter world where these people think they can say whatever they want because they’re not in front of you and they know nothing will happen to them,” Muhammad said. “It just gives other trolls, losers, kids nowadays will create fake accounts where they will say the stupidest things to somebody and there’s a million memes out there but it’s like karma always comes back to you.
“It’s going to come back to all these people, especially a guy like Conor McGregor, who literally you haven’t won a fight in five years,” he continued. “All you do is tweet when a big fight card is coming up because you can have all the money in the world but you don’t have the attention and that’s what you crave the most. You don’t have anybody screaming your name anymore and that’s what you want the most. It’s kind of pathetic where these guys are now.”