At this stage of his career, it’s not likely Sean Strickland will head back to welterweight. But if he does …
UFC 170-pound champion Belal Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC), it’s safe to say, is no fan of Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC), who Saturday was dominated by middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) in the UFC 312 main event in Sydney.
Strickland had an eight-fight stint at welterweight from 2015-2018, but returned to middleweight in 2020 after a two-year motorcycle accident-related layoff. He upset Israel Adesanya to win the title in 2023, but lost it to Du Plessis a little more than a year ago.
The champ said he thinks Strickland never has been a worthy title challenger.
“What did we learn? I say we learned that ‘Bully’ is always right. I’ve been saying forever he’s trash. He talks a big game, but he never walks,” Muhammad said on a video posted to social media. “Even to the fans who sit there and hype him up like he’s the best boxer, the best boxing defense, this and that …
“He’s going to go to war and kill. ‘I would bleed for my fans. I would die for my fans.’ Blah blah blah. But you go out there and he just jabs and teeps and fights like a scared little girl. He doesn’t want to get hit. Even when you’re down four rounds, he doesn’t go all out. He doesn’t have it in him unless it’s five seconds left in the fight.”
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) February 9, 2025
Muhammad beat Leon Edwards this past July to win the 170-pound title, but has not yet made his first attempted title defense. He’s expected to have that be against Shavkat Rakhmonov later this year. They were supposed to fight in December, but Muhammad pulled out with a bone infection in his foot.
Muhammad had a nine-fight unbeaten streak at welterweight from 2019-2023 before he got a title shot against Edwards. Strickland got his middleweight title shot after a win at light heavyweight and one at middleweight. After he lost the belt to Du Plessis, he got his rematch after a lone split decision win over Paulo Costa.
But Muhammad surmises the days of Strickland in title fights are over – and also predicted Strickland will start firing off excuses for his loss based on a supposed staph infection ahead of the fight.
“He wants people to say he’s crazy, he’s nuts. He’s just a racist little clown that’s hiding in the body of a fighter. He’s a coward,” Muhammad said. “… He sucks. Finally we get to get rid of giving this guy undeserved title shots.”
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