Islam Makhachev’s ambitions take hit as Belal Muhammad eyes ‘champ champ’ title after UFC 312

Belal Muhammad sees easy path to double championship after Dricus Du Plessis 'decisions' Sean Strickland at UFC 312 PPV headliner.

Islam Makhachev’s ambitions take hit as Belal Muhammad eyes ‘champ champ’ title after UFC 312

Belal Muhammad wants a piece of Dricus Du Plessis (Source: IMAGO/X)

Dricus Du Plessis retained his UFC 185-pound title crown in a bloody rematch with Sean Strickland. He left no doubt this time around at the UFC 312 PPV event headliner. However, DDP finds himself as a target and easy money for Belal Muhammad. “Bully B” is the 170-pound champ, and has middleweight aspirations as witnessed from his tweets.

Both welterweight Belal Muhammad and friend Islam Makhachev are keeping double-division dreams. It’s a path that momentarily pitted them against each other. However, the longtime reigning UFC 155-pound champ said he would maybe go up to 185 instead. Now, Muhammad reigns on his parade and wants that Dricus Du Plessis challenge.

I can be double champ pretty easily.

Belal Muhammad via X (@bullyb170)
YouTube video

Dricus Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) has quite an interestingly awkward fighting style. But the Afrikaner’s only two slow-running bouts have come against Sean Strickland, in part due to the latter’s own fighting style. DDP outstruck and outworked Sean Strickland with unanimous scores (50-45, 50-45, 49-46) from all the UFC 312 judges’ scorecards.

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Belal Muhammad and Du Plessis have clashed on predictions and pitfalls before. “Stillknocks” considers him an easy challenge should he come up. DDP claimed the title by narrowly defeating Strickland at UFC 297 by split decision a year back. Now, after another decision in the box, Muhammad considers him an easy target. Other peers have also reacted to the win.

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MMA pro-Twitter reacts to Dricus Du Plessis’ title defense vs. Sean Strickland at UFC 312 PPV headliner

Almost 13 months on from their first meeting, Dricus Du Plessis was back in action in their UFC 312: Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2 PPV rematch on Saturday. The South African champ again defeated Sean Strickland in the event headliner at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland at UFC 312
Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland at UFC 312 (Source: X)

In the opening frame, Du Plessis patiently worked his way around Strickland’s tight defense. The champion offered a variety of kicks, going to the head with some of them. He also stunned the American with some punches as well. Strickland maintained his signature straight-standing shelled-up boxing. He popped up with some time teeps and shots in the middle.

The volume of punches increased early in R2. After a series of connects in a heated exchange, blood was drawn. The awkward forward pressure and strikes helped DDP. There were calls from Strickland’s corner for more urgency before R3. Strickland heeded the call by coming forward a little more frequently but was still outclassed. In Round 4, Du Plessis even destroyed his nasal stem with a blow. Here are a few top reactions to it:

Strickland fought his way back into title contention with a win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302, but couldn’t get the job done. “Tarzan” came under a lot of fire for spamming the same fight style. DDP got a lot of praise for his strike-forward performance.

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However, surging UFC middleweight Caio Borralho also went the Belal Muhammad route. The Team Fighting Nerds Southpaw has trained with Strickland even and billed he saw nothing that was going to tumble his confidence. He even touted a challenge to the champ right after this second consecutive title defense. It remains to be seen what happens to the middleweight division in 2025.

Related: 3 reasons why Islam Makhachev’s skill will get nullified in middleweight division