Belal Muhammad claims his Muslim heritage can skyrocket his star status if he becomes a UFC champion
UFC welterweight contender Belal Muhammad has quickly become one of the promotion’s most talked-about fighters. This is largely because he is currently riding a nine-fight unbeaten streak that dates back to 2019.
Belal Muhammad is yet to receive a welterweight title shot. In a recent interview on YouTube channel Jesse ON FIRE, though, Belal revealed he’s already thinking about how big of a star he could become if he were to claim gold in the octagon.
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‘Remember the Name’ suggested that his heritage as an Arab-American and his status as a practicing Muslim could help him to catch on as a star.
Belal went onto make a comparison to former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, whose Muslim faith helped him to gain worldwide popularity during his reign with the title.
“I could be a star...I do think I could be marketed in many different ways, even for, you know, just being Muslim...because when Khabib was a champion it was huge, and he was still Russian, but to have an American-Arab Muslim I think it could be even bigger than that and it’ll be humongous once I do get that belt.”
Despite retiring in late 2020, Khabib Nurmagomedov remains one of the more popular fighters associated with the UFC, and he currently has 34.7m followers on Instagram, dwarfing Muhammad’s 358k followers.
Whether ‘Remember the Name’ can reach the same popularity achieved by Khabib remains to be seen, although it’s fair to say that he clearly has the self-confidence a fighter needs to reach the top of the UFC.
More to the point, with a projected 1.9 billion people following Islam across the world, Muhammad may well have a point about the potential he has to catch on as a star with Muslim MMA fans.
Who is Belal Muhammad set to fight next?
Although Belal Muhammad’s recent YouTube interview with Jesse ON FIRE suggested that he has his sights set on a fight with former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, his next bout has not yet been confirmed.
A number of names appear to be in the pipeline, though, with perhaps the most intriguing potential opponent being the unbeaten prospect Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Following UFC 286, which saw Leon Edwards defend his welterweight title successfully against Usman, Dana White mentioned that the promotion are currently “working on” a prospective clash between Muhammad and ‘The Nomad’.
Dana White reveals Belal Muhammad vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov is part of his next-fight plans in the UFC welterweight division. 🔥
#UFC286 | Full video: bit.ly/3LuYGUl https://t.co/CawvmRlGQ5