Belal Muhammad seems to have found a new home in Khabib Nurmagomedov’s camp.
The top-ranked welterweight contender is set to take on rising prospect Sean Brady at UFC 280 on Oct. 22 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Coming off his debut main event win over Vicente Luque in April, Muhammad goes into the bout looking to extend his three-fight win streak. For Brady, it will be his chance to leapfrog his competition and move up in the rankings.
Belal Muhammad reveals how he linked up for training with Khabib & Islam for UFC 280
In a recent Remember The Show episode on the Anik & Florian podcast, Belal Muhammad opened up about how he got connected to Khabib’s camp through their manager, Ali Abdelaziz of Dominance MMA management.
“The last camp I had for Luque, I trained with Khabib and his crew in Vegas when they were down there. I was with them for a week down there and I just loved it down there. So then, for this one, you know me and Khabib, we both have Ali (Abdelaziz) as the manager. Ali said ‘oh I think their crew will be good for you.’ I was like, ‘I mean, if they’re willing to.’
“Khabib messaged me, hit me up and said, ‘yeah, for sure. Come down. I’ll have everything set for you, the room, everything, cars, you don’t need nothing.’ I’m sitting, there thinking like, ‘yeah yeah okay’ and you know even still to like when we’re still on our way here, I’m still wondering is it all really going to be set. Me and Lou hop off the plane and they had a driver with a sign, drove us all the way here, took care of us and it’s just been cool.”
Muhammad feels confident going into the fight & just needs to add final touches
‘Remember the Name’ shared his experience working with former UFC lightweight champion Khabib and Islam Makhachev.
“Everything’s going well right now, perfect, timing wise, weight wise, everything is on point. Now, it’s just basically sharpening up everything too. Every single one of these guys, they’re smallest guys, their grappling is so good. Since I was so well with my weight before coming here, now I don’t have to worry about, ‘oh man, I gotta go weigh, I gotta do this, I gotta do that.’ Now, I’m still learning I’m still sharpening too. I’m getting different ideas from these guys.”
Muhammad believes the newfound alliance is serving him well and helping him improve. With a win over Brady at UFC 280, Muhammad will solidify his case for getting back in the mix of title contention for the 170-pound gold.
