What flag does Belal Muhammad carry during his fights?

Belal Muhammad comes out for his fights with a flag. Check out which country the flag represents and Belal’s ancestry.

What flag does Belal Muhammad carry during his fights?

Belal Muhammad carries flag during the fight (image VIA MMA mania)

Belal Muhammad will compete at UFC 288 against Gilbert Burns. He is currently on a nine-fight unbeaten streak. Belal has good wrestling that makes him a challenging prospect in a potential championship fight. He has been fighting in the UFC since 2016. Belal’s entrance always featured a national flag.

Fight fans always wondered about the nationality of the flag that Belal Muhammad carried during his entrances. Belal is an American-born fighter to Palestinian parents in Chicago. Therefore, he comes out with the Palestinian National Flag on his entrances. However, in a recent rule change introduced by UFC last year, fighters will not be allowed to carry the flag again in the octagon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0rIazL6qwk&pp=ygUYYmVsYWwgdnMgVmljZW50ZSBMdXF1ZSAy

Belal Muhammad is a religious person who always supports Arabs or Palestinians. But for the UFC, it is more of a business decision than allowing any political agenda in the octagon. UFC has seen the MMA community fight each other by bringing just the country’s name plenty of times on social media. Last year, many Russian fans went after the UFC for not giving Magomed Ankalaev a clear victory over Jan Blachowicz in his fight at UFC 282.

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Last time when Belal Muhammad carried the flag in the octagon

Belal Muhammad
(Image via Yahoo News)

Once Belal said, “Most of the times, you think of Palestinians or Arabs, you think of them working in stores thinking they can’t do anything more than [work in] a store. So if I could bring [the idea] to people, “Hey you can be a professional athlete, you can do whatever you want, if you work hard,” it’ll mean a lot. It’ll change the game.” He hopes to inspire everyone to be proud of their country and achieve whatever dream they have through his performances inside the octagon.

Belal carried the flag at UFC: Luque vs. Muhammad 2 event in 2022. He defeated Luque in a five-round that saw him get revenge for the knockout loss in 2016. Following the event, it became official that no fighters would be allowed in the octagon with country flags. Many known fighters, who come out with flags like Conor McGregor, Colby Covington, and Max Holloway, must abide by the new rule set.

Belal Muhammad after not being allowed to enter with the country flag

Belal Muhammad
Belal Muhammad at the weigh-ins (Image VIA GettyImages)

Khamzat Chimaev asked the UFC not to let Belal enter the octagon with the flag. Khamzat revealed that he had only one condition to fight Belal. Belal could not come out with the flag. However, despite the rule change, the fight never materialized.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtUfxXUjvbE&pp=ygUcYmVsYWwgbXVoYW1tYWQgdnMgc2VhbiBicmFkeQ%3D%3D

Belal talked about the change in the ruleset before his fight against Sean Brady at UFC 280. He said, “I have the blood inside of me. I don’t need the flag and I don’t need to carry it, I have it inside of me all the time. I have the people on my back no matter what, so I don’t need to carry the flag for me to be able to represent them.”

UFC 288 will be the second time Belal does not bring the Palestinian flag into the octagon. He will compete against the Brazilian Gilbert Burns in a potential title eliminator bout. Both fighters will look to register a win to get a title shot. If Belal can defeat Burns, he makes an undebatable case for his status as the next No. 1 contender for the welterweight title.

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