Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach says Belal Muhammad has earned the right to call his next fight: "They belittled him"
Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach recently lavished praise on Belal Muhammad and noted that he has now earned the right to call the shots in the welterweight division. Muhammad had a difficult road to a title shot as he was constantly passed over in favor of others.
'Remember The Name' had been unbeaten in 10 fights dating back to 2019 before he finally earned a welterweight title shot at UFC 304 this past July. Since then, he has been called out by several contenders and has even gotten into back-and-forth exchanges on social media.
During the latest episode of his podcast, Nurmagomedov's AKA coach Javier Mendez praised the reigning welterweight champion for continuing to grind his way to a championship opportunity. Mendez mentioned that Muhammad was constantly told he wasn't deserving of a title shot and is now clapping back at those same doubters with his success:
"That poor guy had to do everything, waiting. He was undefeated for how many fights, and he's knocking on the door, and everybody was like, 'Oh, he didn't deserve it', and he kept pushing. He finally got his shot, and he did what he needed to do, he won a decisive victory over Leon Edwards. And now, it's like, who's doing all the talking? Now, Belal is doing all the chirping because they belittled him and now Belal is the man." [18:54 - 19:24]
Check out the full episode of Javier Mendez's podcast below:
Javier Mendez claims Belal Muhammad now has the power
In addition to lavishing praise on Belal Muhammad, Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach Javier Mendez also claimed that the welterweight champion now has the power.
During the aforementioned episode, Mendez mentioned that Muhammad now can dictate the terms of his title fight and earned the right to do so:
"[Muhammad] bided his time and now he's the king. I don't care what you say, he can do whatever he wants [and] chirp as much as he wants...that was done to him. He got his opportunity, and he rose to the occasion...So now he's the champ, and now he's calling the shots like he wants to...He can decide the date." [19:32 - 19:56]
Check out Belal Muhammad's post-fight interview following his UFC welterweight title win below: