Belal Muhammad fires back in kind to Gilbert Burns' accusations of him ducking 'Durinho'
Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns are both within touching distance of the welterweight championship. With things very tight at the top of the welterweight division, the rankings mean a lot to the contenders.
Muhammad's No.4 ranking in the latest rankings update despite Burns' UFC 283 victory over Neil Magny prompted the Brazilian to lash out on Twitter and in his press addresses.
Burns tweeted:
"Rankings [facepalm emojis] The disrespect is real! The guy literally [duck emoji] you and gets a reward for it! [shrug emojis]"
Check out his tweet below:
Rankings 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
The disrespect is real! The guy literally 🦆 you and gets a reward for it! 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
Muhammad himself took to Twitter to record a statement and respond to Burns' outrage. 'Remember the Name' thanked the panel responsible for the rankings for recognizing his true standing:
"Shout out to the rankers. I don't know who you are but I'm glad you guys understood the situation. I just beat No.5 Wonderboy, I beat No.5 Luque and I had to fight them back-to-back. So then I'm looking at No.4 Gilbert. Should be the next step, but I got ducked. So then I had to go downward to 15-0 No.7 Sean Brady. Beat him because I was ducked."
Muhammad also dismissed Gilbert Burns' win against Magny and made a reference to Jake Paul:
"So I'm glad, I'm glad you guys aren't falling into this narrative. I'm glad the world - smart world, would understand that. Sean Brady is just a white version of Gilbert without the fro. So why would I duck him? I appreciate you guys, rankers, I appreciate you guys, you guys are smart. Congratulations on beating No.14 Neil Magny, who probably would lose to Jake Paul. Congrats man, congrats."
Check out Muhammad's full comments on Twitter below:
Shoutout to the ranking board https://t.co/50om7071H9
Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns go to and fro on Twitter
The beef between the two welterweights continued as they took indirect shots at each other on Twitter.
Belal Muhammad brought up Gilbert Burns' most recent fights and stated the difference in both fighters' respective opposition as a clear differentiator contributing to their rankings.
"Lol because u have one ranked win and I have 4 ….and u begged for the masvidal fight for the last 7 months"
@MMAJunkie @GilbertDurinho Lol because u have one ranked win and I have 4 ….and u begged for the masvidal fight for the last 7 months
'Durinho' made his own intentions clear on Twitter by declaring his hunger to fight any opponent.
"I WILL FIGHT ANYONE!"
I WILL FIGHT ANYONE!
In response, Belal Muhammad echoed the same sentence in a tweet:
"I TOO WILL FIGHT ANYONE"
I TOO WILL FIGHT ANYONE