Belal Muhammad Thinks He Outclasses JDM
During a recent edition of “Remember The Show,” Belal Muhammad discussed his first attempt at a successful title defense against Jack Della Maddalena.
“If I’m being honest with you, I’m better everywhere,” Muhammad said. “People are gonna say, ‘Oh, he got hands, he got hands,’ but I think they just underestimate my hands and my striking and I just went against the best striker in the UFC in Leon Edwards.”
Muhammad also believes that Maddalena’s biggest strength won’t guarantee success in their fight.
“When I have a guy that’s basic in Jack, who’s just boxing, right? He has really good hands, he has good power, but he breaks a lot of these guys down because he’s hasn’t fought anybody like me. His biggest weakness is his experience. He’s never been in a big fight like that.”
Muhammad mentioned having to work his way to UFC gold fighting the likes of Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady, who was unbeaten prior to their UFC 280 clash back in 2022. Maddalena’s most recent bout was a third-round finish over Burns. He took a split decision over Kevin Holland in the fight prior.
Muhammad was initially set to put his gold on the line against Rakhmonov in the main event of UFC 310. Muhammad suffered a foot infection and Rakhmonov ended up defeating Ian Machado Garry in a competitive fight. If Muhammad gets past Maddalena, then one would think the next move is to give Rakhmonov a crack at the 170-pound gold once he is healthy.
