Belal Muhammad hopes Khamzat Chimaev makes Sean Strickland pay for his words.
Strickland (30-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) needed just one win over Anthony Hernandez to get a shot at middleweight champion Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) in the UFC 328 main event May 9 in Newark, N.J. (Paramount+).
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The former UFC welterweight champion thinks Nassourdine Imavov, who’s on a five-fight winning streak, was snubbed out of a title shot.
“Sucks for Imavov,” Muhammad said on his YouTube channel. “You’ve got to feel for him. I thought he earned the title shot. I thought that he was going to get the title shot, but I think the trash talk, and the stupidity, and the era we live in now, where Strickland talks his way into a title shot. You know it’s going to get people to want to talk, people to want to view, especially with Chimaev. You know they’re going to go back and forth.”
Muhammad has had his fair share of words with Strickland in the past, and wants nothing more than to see Chimaev dominate him.
“The thing I’m excited for is to see Chimaev smash him and walk through him,” Muhammad said. “I think that’s what it’s going to be. I think he’s going to be able to take him down, control him, and I’m hoping cut him open a little bit, let him bleed a little bit, and then break him mentally, and tap him out.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Belal Muhammad: Sean Strickland talked his way into UFC title shot
