Belal Muhammad reacts to being called "champion of street fighting" on Chicago news channel: "It was hilarious"
Belal Muhammad recently shared a hilarious story about being called a street fighter on one of Chicago's most popular news outlets. Muhammad stated he was amused that so many people were unaware of the UFC, the largest mixed martial arts organization in the world.
Muhammad put on a strong performance against Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC 304, which took place in July in front of Edwards' home crowd. 'Remember the Name' won the welterweight title by unanimous decision, becoming the first fighter of Palestinian heritage to win a UFC title.
Muhammad took a brief vacation after capturing the belt in Manchester and then returned to Chicago two weeks later to be greeted as a hero. He was thrilled to bring the title back to his family and friends and felt privileged to represent the city.
During a recent appearance on The Anik and Florian Podcast, Muhammad discussed his victory parade. The 36-year-old also revealed that he was referred to as a street fighter rather than being recognized as a UFC champion, saying:
''Man honestly, Chicago was epic. We've had parade for the Bulls, the White Sox, the Cubs, and now to finally get one for myself, it was amazing. Just the family friends there, and we had like the funniest thing. I was on the WGN news, was like the biggest news network here. And then the lady goes,'oh, you're the champion of street fighting', and I was like bro, people still don't know what the UFC is. It was hilarious.''
Check out Belal Muhammad's comments below:
In another interview with Submission Radio, Muhammad discussed taking his belt back to Chicago, saying:
''It felt great man to have my own parade...Chicago hasn't had a champion in a while, so for us to bring the belt back home and get gold in Chicago, it feels good.''
Check out Belal Muhammad's comments below (0:42):
Belal Muhammad believes he is better than Kamaru Usman
Belal Muhammad recently gave his take on the UFC welterweight GOAT debate. In the aforementioned interview with Submission Radio, the reigning champion stated that he thinks he is a better fighter than Kamaru Usman and that he wants to go above and beyond previous champions when it comes to title defenses.
He said:
''I just think that all these fighters had their moments in their different eras. Right now, my era is with Usman and I think I'm better than Usman. And when I look at him and I look at my fights, I was always chasing him, right? Because he was the one on top, so I always had my style and I always thought my style could beat him...I always put gold as the goal, now GOAT is the goal.'' [7:49 in the aforementioned video]