Belal Muhammad Admits Straying from Game Plan at UFC 315

If it seemed like Belal Muhammad didn’t go to his wrestling as much as he should have early on at UFC 315, it’s because the former welterweight champion was trying to prove a point.

“Remember the Name” didn’t land his first takedown until the fourth round, as he relinquished the 170-pound strap to Jack Della Maddalena in a unanimous decision loss on May 10 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. While Maddalena deserves some credit for shoring up his defensive wrestling, Muhammad admits that he didn’t follow the game plan as closely as he should have.

“I think I have the best team in the world, some of the best coaches in the world, and we go into every fight with a strategy and idea of what we want to do,” Muhammad said on the “Remember the Show” podcast. “Obviously, for us, what our strategy was was to take down Jack. It wasn’t to go blow-for-blow with him, brawl-for-brawl with him.

“But, man, it’s a weird moment when you’re training something so much and you’re getting better at something, which I think my striking has grown so much and I’ve always said it. When I said that in the lead-up, I wasn’t lying about it. ‘Bro, I can box with him, I can strike with him. I’m not afraid to strike with him.’ And I went out there and I just felt good.”

When all was said and done, Maddalena outlanded Muhammad by a 178-to-132 count in significant strikes. Muhammad was outlanded in each round, but he did his best to put the pressure on his Australian opponent in the championship frames, which made for an entertaining, though ultimately unsuccessful, conclusion.

"I can strike with this guy and people tell me I can't go in there and strike with him," Muhammad said. "Obviously, we lost the fight, but we stood toe to toe, and people can say whatever they want to say. I went against the game plan, and at the end of the day, I'm going to live with that. But it came down to one round, maybe one exchange that could've swayed the judges that way. So, was my gameplan wrong? It could've went the other way. Could it have been an easier fight? It could've, but at the end of the day, I love to fight.”

That defeat ended an 11-fight unbeaten streak for Muhammad, who had a long journey to reach the top of the division. The 36-year-old Chicago native is confident that he isn’t too far removed from another title shot, and he’s willing to do the work necessary to get to that point.

“I’m one fight away from winning the belt. I’m one fight away from being there,” Muhammad said. “... I’m not stupid. I’m not going to sit there and think, ‘Oh, I’m going to wait for a rematch.’ I want to get back up. I want to beat one of these guys that’s a No. 1 contender. I want to show you guys that I’m still the best in the world. I want to show them, ‘Who are you going to put in front of me and watch what I do.’”