Former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad enters UFC Qatar on Saturday night with one mission in mind: fight his way back to the throne he briefly held. Muhammad takes on rising rival Ian Garry in a high-stakes match. He is determined, battle-tested and completely focused on proving that at 170 pounds he is still the man to beat.
Mohammed (24-4) wasn’t sure Ian Garry would be next until a fellow former champion turned him down. According to Muhammad, Kamaru Usman declined the matchup, forcing him to target the biggest name available at 170 pounds besides himself, rising star Ian Garry.
“I think it became Ian when Kamaru Usman stopped the fight and walked away,” Mohammed told reporters on Wednesday.
“Ian is one of those guys who is always ready to fight anyone and pass the toughest test. He got a big win against (Carlos) Prates, so that made the most sense.”
Mohammed did not mince his words when discussing how the match came about. After Usman gave up the fight, Mohammed made it clear that he made the decision personally, and as confirmation of what he had long suspected.
“I’m not disappointed. I just know he was scared. For me, I’ve been trying to fight him for a long time,” he said.
“It just confirmed my thoughts that he is a coward.”
As the intensity of fight week increases, Belal Muhammad doesn’t shy away from calling out Ian Garry’s brash personality and non-stop trash talk. For him, the gap between Garry’s words and his actual performances is clearer than ever, and he plans to expose that gap on fight night.
“I mean, he’s a better talker than he is a fighter. I think when we step in the cage, those words won’t mean anything. I’m going to stand in front of you and then you have to put those words into action,” Muhammad said.
“If he tries to put these words into action, my response will break him. He’s going to fold and we saw him in his last fight. He was close to the breaking point. I’m going to let him reach that breaking point.”
Watch the entire media day with Belal Muhammad above. He faces Ian Garry at UFC Qatar on Saturday night.
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