There’s a moment in these fights that he truly loves. It doesn’t come in every fight, but often enough. And when it does, there’s no feeling quite like it.
“You see it in their eyes,” said Belal Muhammad, the UFC welterweight champion who defends his title against challenger Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 on Saturday in Montreal. “They’re breaking, and you see it. They just don’t have that fire in their eyes no more. You see that light start to dim. They’re losing hope.”
Advertisement
This, to Muhammad, is one of the best parts. It’s better than landing one clean shot that separates an opponent from his consciousness, better than forcing him to tap to some choke that will soon put him to sleep. Those require skill and timing and maybe a little bit of luck.
But to break a person is to take away his will. He entered this contest determined and motivated, absolutely certain he would accept nothing less than victory. Then, through pressure and pace and relentless attacks, you gradually change his mind for him.
He felt this in his last fight, when he took the UFC 170-pound title from Leon Edwards via unanimous decision at UFC 304 last summer.
“I felt it with Leon right after the second round,” Muhammad said. “I saw it and I felt it. Even in the third round when he had my back, I could feel that he was just holding on for dear life, just trying to make it out of the round. But there wasn’t that fire in him anymore. I knew then that the fire was out. So in the fourth round, when I grabbed him, I just pulled him down super easy. Then it was like, all right, I knew you were done.”
Advertisement
For a fighter of Muhammad’s proclivities, this is both the most enjoyable and the likeliest path to victory. He doesn’t have the devastating one-punch power some other UFC champions do. He’s not a submissions ace. He’s got over three times more wins by decision than he has via knockout or TKO.
What he does have is determination and resilience and cardio. He never stops coming forward and never lets up. Which, against a striking-based fighter like Della Maddalena, who’s long on technical skill in the stand-up game but short on experience in those slow, grinding battles of attrition, could make all the difference.
“He only has one path to victory,” Muhammad said of the challenger. “He only has one way to win the fight, and that’s with his hands and with his striking. For me, I see a guy that I’m going to break. Another guy that, when he gets into the deep end of the water with me, he’s going to realize that I’m different. He’s never fought anybody like me. He’s never been in the cage with anybody like me. That inexperience is going to hurt him.”
Advertisement
This is a big fight for Muhammad, and for more reasons than the obvious ones represented by that gold belt in his carry-on luggage. For years now he’s been in a messy, gritty, drag-out fight for acceptance. He went 10 fights and five years without a loss just to get his first crack at a UFC title. Many fans felt sure he’d lose. Then when he won the title, they felt sure he’d lose it as soon as he had to defend it.
Belal Muhammad defends his welterweight title for the first time at UFC 315 in Montreal on Saturday, and there’s more on the line than just the belt. (REUTERS/John Sibley)
(REUTERS / Reuters)
Back when unbeaten contender Shavkat Rakhmonov was his likely first opponent, Muhammad was the clear underdog. In fact, this fight with Della Maddalena is the first time in four years he’s gone into a fight as the betting favorite. It seems that no matter what he does or how many fights he wins, people have a hard time believing in him. It’s been going on so long that he’s actually gotten used to it now.
“People are still doubting me,” Muhammad said. “People are still hating on me no matter what. So in the fans’ eyes, they’re always going to tell me that I don’t deserve it. Me, I know I’m the champion. I know I’m the best in the world. It took me a long road to get here, but I got it. I earned it and I did it the hard way. I went into Manchester, in enemy territory, and I dominated [Edwards]. Now what I’m hungry for is to keep adding wins and title defenses until people just can’t deny me any more.”
Advertisement
The uncertainty about his place at the top even seems at times to be coming from inside the house. Friend and sometimes training partner Islam Makhachev is said to be awaiting the outcome of Muhammad’s fight in order to determine whether he should leave behind his UFC lightweight title and move up a division to challenge for a second belt. If Muhammad stays the champ, Makhachev’s likely to stay in his own weight class so as not to face a friend, or so the thinking goes. But if Muhammad loses? Well, Makhachev has appeared to want to keep his options open.
It’s a little awkward, coming from someone Muhammad has shared the training room mats with in the past. It doesn’t exactly feel like the strongest vote of confidence from friends, which is funny because confidence is one thing Muhammad himself certainly doesn’t lack.
“I already told these guys, there’s nothing to wait for, right?” Muhammad said. “I’m going to win this fight. There’s nothing that’s going to stop me from winning this fight. So everyone else — and you see it with other welterweights, since the division is crazy right now and no one wants to fight unless it’s for the belt — I’m going to win. So just go ahead and figure out who you’re going to fight.”
Are they listening? Do they believe him yet? Or will he have to nail another pelt to the wall in order to make his point?
Advertisement
Maybe the better question is the extent to which it matters. As much as Muhammad has gotten used to being doubted and overlooked, either because he’s not scary or flashy or simply beloved enough, you do get the sense that he doesn’t love it.
In a lot of ways, he’s one of the more accessible UFC champs. He’s active and engaged on social media. He feels more a part of the fandom and the ongoing MMA conversation than most other fighters. That makes him seem both more relatable and also somehow less untouchable. Fans don’t quite revere him the way they do other UFC champs. It’s like they’re still on the fence, unconvinced that this man who seems in a lot of ways like just a regular guy could possibly be the best welterweight in the world.
Advertisement
Muhammad hears them. That’s the thing about being part of the conversation. He’s all too aware how many people still aren’t buying it, even with the belt in his possession.
“That’s on me though, right?” he said. “I’ve got to prove it myself with more wins. So that’s what I’ll do.”
The road to the title was long and rocky, but he finally reached the end. Now comes the frenzied struggle to justify and earn anew his place on top of the mountain. And the dark cliffs below are dotted with eyes watching for his fall.
