Belal Muhammad makes eye-opening remarks about Ariel Helwani allegedly refusing to interview him, MMA journalist responds: "Keep making sh*t up"
Belal Muhammad recently accused Ariel Helwani of not inviting him on his show, citing their heritage as the reason. Helwani responded to Muhammad's words by criticizing the reigning welterweight champion for making false statements.
For context, Muhammad recently made an appearance on Jake Shields' Fight Back podcast on his YouTube channel, where the former UFC fighter inquired about his relationship with Helwani. Shields claimed that the MMA journalist probably dislikes Muhammad, noting the former's Jewish heritage and the latter's Palestinian roots.
Muhammad concurred with Shields' claims, saying that Helwani never invited him to his podcast, despite capturing the UFC title from Leon Edwards at UFC 304.
''100% and then I'll say that from the beginning, cause he's never invited me on his podcast. He's never invited me on even when I beat Leon [Edwards], he didn't mention me... You didn't give it any type of hype. Oh he doesn't want to come out probably because of Palestine, Israel and I'm like,'no'.''
That didn't sit well with Helwani, who bashed Muhammd for his comments, writing:
''Yeah, that's not true. And you know it. But keep making sh*t up.''
In a series of X posts, Helwani stated that he has no negative feelings toward Muhammad as he defended 'Remember the Name' last year when Colby Covington received the title shot last year instead of him. The 42-year-old also said that Muhammad's former manager had blocked him from appearing on his podcast, however, the Chicago native has an open invitation. Helwani wrote:
''And these are the public ones. I’ve tried. He knows it. His team knows it. His former manager knows it. Jake is too dumb to know it so I’ll give him a pass, but these guys just can’t stop lying.''
![[Screenshots courtesy: @arielhelwani on X]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/12/df41d-17338831185096-1920.jpg?w=500)
Belal Muhammad reacts to the Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Machado Garry matchup at UFC 310
Belal Muhammad was scheduled to face Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 for his first title defense, however, a foot injury forced him to pull out of the card. As a result, Ian Machado Garry stepped in to take on Rakhmonov and did a commendable job as the fight went to distance. In the end, the Kazakh was declared winner via unanimous decision.
In the aforementioned conversation with Jake Shields, Muhammad gave his take on the title eliminator bout between Rakhmonov and Garry, saying:
''It played out kind of like the way I thought it would... I was more surprised, I felt like Shavkat kind of paced himself a little bit, usually he'll go for finishes... He [Rakhmonov] just adjusted his pace yesterday but then he looked like he got a little bit tired at end... I think that Shavkat's overestimated, I think Ian's underestimated.''
Check out Belal Muhammad's comments below (4:56):