Belal Muhammad has been training with former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for his upcoming fight with Sean Brady.
Muhammad will take on the rising prospect in a highly-anticipated matchup at UFC 280. on Oct. 22 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He linked up with the retired unbeaten Dagestani fighter and Islam Makhachev, who will headline the card, for the first time in preparations for a bout.
Belal Muhammad opens up about training with Khabib for UFC 280
In a recent appearance on the Jibber with Jaber podcast, Belal Muhammad opened up about the experience of working with Khabib and his team.
“I’ve been in many different gyms and when they say they train different, they’re different,” he said (transcribed by Middle Easy). “These guys, they’ve been doing it since they were kids, and their level of strength or level of grappling, the level of just, when Khabib walks into the room, it’s like an army there’s no joking around. There’s discipline, like no other. And then also just to be being a Muslim, and being around all those guys, like we’re training killing each other and then right after we’re praying at the mosque right there.
“So just being embraced more into the culture, into the religion has been another amazing thing about being here so early, because it just brings you closer to God in general. It gets your mind off of the stresses of the daily life in America.”
Muhammad found the training to be more difficult
‘Remember The Name’ found the practice sessions to be more intense than he was used to. He heaped praises on the technique he learned and pushed through the taxing workouts.
“You had those days where it’s like I’m sore today or I’m tired today I know what guys to go with that are gonna be a lighter round or a round that I know I can control myself and be alright with that day. Here there’s not one easy round in the room. Every single one of these guys is a monster and I don’t care what weight class they are,” he said. “Their technique is just flawless with all these guys. So that’s one of the crazy things that also it’s the training is just a lot harder.“