Newly-minted undisputed welterweight champion, Belal Muhammad has once more taken aim at arch-rival, former middleweight champion, Sean Strickland — this time poking fun at the number one contender’s striking style.
Muhammad, who most recently headlined UFC 304 at the end of July in Manchester, England — turned in a stunning unanimous decision win over defending champion, Leon Edwards — landing a one-sided judging win over the Birmingham native in their rematch to crown himself as the new gold holder.
And as for former middleweight gold holder, Strickland is expected to challenge Dricus du Plessis in a title rematch next, having most recently retained his status as number one contender in a decision win over former championship challenger, Paulo Costa in the co-main event of UFC 302 in May in Newark, New Jersey.
Linked with returns against the likes of former undisputed champion, Kamaru Usman, as well as the surging unbeaten, Shavkat Rakhmonov — who has yet to go the distance, finishing all eighteen opponents in his unbeaten run in mixed martial arts.
Belal Muhammad hits out at arch-rival, Sean Strickland
However, amid links to a return by the end of the year at UFC 310, Belal Muhammad has once more hit out as the style of Strickland — laying out a potential game plan the former would use if they ever shared the Octagon in the future.
“He (Sean Strickland) would throw 95 teeps at me every round then wait till 6 seconds left in the fight and start throwing jumping teeps and yelling like he’s wild,” Belal Muhammad posted on his official X account about Sean Strickland.
While Strickland has felt the wrath of the undisputed welterweight champion, Muhammad — who hypothesized a potential fight in the future, he himself ruled out a potential rematch with light heavyweight best, Alex Pereira in the future — claiming he would likely just get knocked out again.
I’m not scared of Alex (Pereira), but my chin — I’ll just go to sleep, it’s a weird thing,” Sean Strickland told the Brazilian’s head coach, Plinio Cruz during a recent video. “For me to knock Alex out, he has to do something really stupid. If you gave me one free shot and you said give everything you can, I’m not knocking him out.”