Machado Is Going To Be Running

Belal Muhammad had some pointedly diminishing things to say about the style of Ian Garry, which the former UFC welterweight champ referred to as a “point jab” style. This was expressed by Muhammad during an interview with MMA Junkie with ‘Remember the Name’ touching on multiple topics before this key fight with Machado Garry in a few days’ time.

Muhammad will look to derail the surging contender in the co-main event of UFC Qatar later this week as Belal Muhammad enters the cage for his first fight since losing the welterweight strap in May. When giving his overview of this Machado Garry bout and his thoughts on the machinations of this matchup, Muhammad said,

“I think Ian’s going to try to run around the whole first round. But then, by the end of the first round, his little point-jabbing is not going to work. Then I’m going to grab a hold of him. I’m going to take him down. I’m going to let him back up just ’cause I want to show him that I could take him down if I want to. And then I’m going to outbox him… For me, it’s finishing him on the feet and then reminding everybody who I am.”

Belal Muhammad calls Kamaru Usman an old fart with no knees who doesn’t deserve a title shot

Belal Muhammad has been throwing cold water on the narrative from some that Kamaru Usman should get a title shot against newly minted welterweight kingpin Islam Makhachev in the wake of ascending to the throne at UFC 322. With Ali Abdelaziz managing both Makhachev and Usman, Muhammad mentioned in that same MMA Junkie interview above that he feels like Abdelaziz is planting seeds for this bout.

This would obviously be because both are his clients and it would obviously be for Abdelaziz’s own benefit to have a title fight like that locked in next.

This was around the time in the interview when Muhammad called Usman an old fart with no knees and intimated that Islam Makhachev would only want to pursue a bout like that to get the easiest option out of the way first. Many think that names like Michael Morales and Carlos Prates are higher up in the title contender queue [with both authoring massive wins at UFC 322 as well] than Usman who has gone 1-4 across his last handful of bouts.