Muhammad lost the UFC Welterweight Championship to Jack Della Maddalena in Montreal this past Saturday. While many believe it was the most exciting fight Muhammad has ever been in, it didn’t lead to a successful title defense. Maddalena did an effective job stuffing takedowns, which allowed him to work his striking.
In the end, Maddalena captured the 170-pound gold via unanimous decision, and Chimaev has no sympathy for the former champion.
Khamzat Chimaev recently mocked Belal Muhammad on social media following UFC 315. A fan asked Chimaev why he was targeting Muhammad, and the surging middleweight responded with the following (via MMAMania).
“He call me Muslim brother then he go saying he wants to beat me so should I be nice to you?” Chimaev responded to a Muslim fan calling for unity on social media. “I like real people not fake, if you call my brother you should be my brother. I always support Palestine but I never support fake people.”
Back in 2023, Muhammad expressed his belief that Khamzat Chimaev was seeking attention by claiming he would take certain fights. At the time, “Remember the Name” wasn’t even convinced that Chimaev would fight Kamaru Usman. Here’s what he told “The Schmo” at the time.
“This new Twitter age is kind of annoying,” Muhammad said. “Khamzat’s one of the guys, kind of like Conor McGregor. He wants the attention, so he’ll throw out a random tweet here and there, but nothing ever comes of it, right? So, when they say that (Chimaev vs. Usman), I’m like, ‘Bro, that fight’s not happening.’
They’ll talk about it, both say something about it, and then there won’t be nothing else.”
Muhammad has also said he’d take a fight with Chimaev at 185 pounds if he wasn’t satisfied at welterweight. Now that Muhammad has lost the welterweight gold, time will tell what his next move will be.
