“Welterweight is Stacked” – Belal Muhammad Dreaming About Taking GOAT Status from GSP Gets Reality Check

Even after his loss at the UFC 315 PPV headliner, Belal Muhammad is still chasing that Georges St-Pierre "GOAT" status.

“Welterweight is Stacked” – Belal Muhammad Dreaming About Taking GOAT Status from GSP Gets Reality Check

Belal Muhammad still chasing that Georges St-Pierre GOAT status (Source: IMAGO/X)

Belal Muhammad is reliable and sticks to his words, even if that reliability can sometimes work against him. The first Palestinian champion recently lost his belt in the UFC 315 PPV card headliner. However, it hasn’t dulled Muhammad’s ambitions; he still wants that 170-pound GOAT spot that Georges St-Pierre holds. To his dismay, though, that could backfire against him now.

Belal Muhammad was a sizable betting favorite coming into UFC 315, given he hadn’t lost out against top names like Gilbert Burns, Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Demian Maia, Sean Brady (a rare TKO win), and even Leon Edwards later. He wants to get back to it again, all the way to gold.

Muhammad, who already considered welterweight GOAT Georges St-Pierre as a good motivator, even cited that ‘Rush’ himself lost out and rebounded later. He had designs on chasing a PPV title scrap yet again, similarly.

I’m still chasing GSP. GSP lost his belt and he got it back… There’s nothing in me that’s like… let’s just see what YouTubers are out there.

Former UFC 170-pound champ Georges St-Pierre holds his infamy for a reason. After a four-year layoff, he yet again returned to snag gold from Michael Bisping (185-pound this time) and proved why he was the best of the best. However, now 44, the last time GSP lost a title affair was to Matt Serra at UFC 69: Shootout in 2007. At the advanced age of 37, Muhammad’s ambitions are a bit out of the park. A prime response (@humbleMMA_ on X) to his dreams even reminded him of it.

I respect the ambition but he’s almost 37 years old and the WW division is stacked, he should’ve just stuck to his gameplan and kept his title.

In the aftermath of his setback at UFC 315, Muhammad proffered a concise rejoinder. According to the former champion, he “just felt good” for a standup PPV scrapper against Jack Della Maddalena. At the time, he wanted to fight the Australian fighter to the end. Things simply unfolded the other way, and now Muhammad will have to fight his way back to title contention.

Belal Muhammad concedes deviating from the strategy in his UFC 315 PPV title match loss

Muhammad had not suffered a defeat in 11 UFC bouts and was coming off a resounding victory over Leon Edwards in July of 2024. It was expected by many that Muhammad’s world-class pressure, cardio, and takedown attempts along the cage would be utilized. It would have been a prime tool to take away JDM’s striking and wilt him in the later frames at UFC 315. However, a part of the win against Edwards entailed striking too.

Belal Muhammad happy that he proved he can strike with anyone, despite losing belt at UFC 315
Belal Muhammad happy that he proved he can strike with anyone, despite losing belt at UFC 315 (Source: X)

Nonetheless, Muhammad vowed to confront the prevailing narrative within the MMA community that he was a lackluster combatant or a decision merchant by aligning himself with proficient strikers. His boxing proficiency is something Muhammad’s striking coach, Horacio Gutierrez, came up with during a UFC ‘Embedded’ Vlog series.

Ever since, Belal Muhammad had fallen in love with the striking side of things. While the plan was to mix it all up against JDM, ‘Remember the Name’ admitted he didn’t remember to stick to the game plan or listen to his coaches. He opted for the striking way even though he shot for 9 takedowns. ‘Bully B’ told as much on his “Remember the Show” segment of the @AnikFlorianPodcast, RTS.143 with Jason Anik.

Obviously, for us, our strategy 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 for something so much, and you’re getting better at something, which I think my striking has grown so much. I always said it, and what I was saying in the lead up, I wasn’t lying. I can box with him. I can strike with him…Obviously, we lost the fight, but we stood toe to toe, and people can say whatever they want to say. I went against the gameplan, and at the end of the day, I’m going to live with that. 

In the aftermath of his championship defeat, Muhammad has commenced a modest training regimen and light weight padwork. He is targeting an October return. However, he has his sights set on the winner of the upcoming bout between Kamaru Usman and Joaquin Buckley, viewing it as a strong potential match for his next fight.

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