Belal Muhammad would love to fight Sean Strickland, but he doesn’t think much of the former middleweight champion as an opponent.
Muhammad defeated Leon Edwards via unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 304 this past July to win welterweight gold. “Remember the Name” has since been discussing a future move up to middleweight, albeit after he defends his title a few times.
Strickland, who has been beefing with Muhammad over his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict, stands out as a potential opponent should that move happen.
Sean Strickland GOES OFF on Belal Muhammad
“[Belal] is such a f***ing little b*tch bro… listen dude, go to f***ing Palestine, go f***ing fight for your f***ing country.
Get the f*** out of here you f***ing can.”
YT / @jonbernardk #UFC302 #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/p7JOFIjOV8
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 31, 2024
Muhammad recently reiterated his plans to potentially move to 185 pounds after a couple of title defenses, which he expects to be rematches. As for a potential clash against Strickland, Muhammad doesn’t even need a title on the line.
“Oh man, I’d love to fight Sean,” Muhammad told Submission Radio. “It doesn’t even have to be belt on the line. I’ll just fight him just to fight him at 185 [pounds]. Yeah, that would be a fight I would want at 185. I have four Top 5 wins and when you look at it, it’s gonna eventually be — now I’m gonna have to do a rematch — now there’s gonna be another rematch. But I think after two I can start talking about it. I think it just depends on who’s the champion or who’s up there right. Because if it’s Sean, I’d definitely want that fight and I’ll bide for that fight. I don’t think he’s gonna be touching gold anymore, dude sucks.”
However, if Strickland is champion around the same time Muhammad plans his move up, he would rally hard for that fight. Muhammad believes Strickland will be an easy fight for him in every aspect. According to Muhammad, Strickland’s recent wins have come against opponents who did not fight him smartly. Muhammad claims Strickland fights not to lose and he vows to break the former champ with pressure while making it look easy.
“I’d slap him around,” Muhammad said. “I’d literally go in there and I’d slap him around. When I think of tough fights, Sean’s not one of them. I think he would be easy fight for me. He beats a lot of guys with cardio. I have better cardio than him. He beats a lot of guys with jabs. I have better boxing than him. He beats guys with teeps, but those guys they fight him a certain way. They don’t fight him smart. [Paulo] Costa backed up the whole time and then he just took those teep kicks. Even with Adesanya, he backed up the whole time for the most part and even in that fight, it wasn’t that great of a fight. He fights safe. He fights to not get hit. He fights to not lose. So I think I go in there and I break him with pressure and honestly I’ll make it look easy.”
