In mixed martial arts, surnames may be the best way to get a message between fans and opponents.
Want fans to know that cage violence is coming? “Natural Born Killer.” Want something less sweet but still unique? It worked with “Rampage” and “Shogun”.
And then there is Belal Muhammad. Whenever they go to war, Bruce Buffer makes a simple request before revealing his surname to the Octagon: “Remember the name.”
“Ever since I started as an amateur [MMA]It was difficult for people to remember my name, “Muhammad, who will face Leon Edwards on Saturday at the UPN Fight Night welterweight headliner ESPN +, told the Post on Tuesday.
“For me, it was like, I want a fighting style and personality where people remember the name, where they won’t forget it.”
Muhammad (18–3, five finishes) has made it easy for fans to keep his name with every outing. After a 1-2 start to his UFC career in 2016, he won eight of his last nine and found himself in his first main event for the promotion. He arrived in Las Vegas for a bout at the UFC Apex, winning four weeks earlier, including a unanimous win over Dhego Lima, the fastest innings of his career.
Calling the occasion that his name is “always envisaged”, 32-year-old Muhammad wants to fight sports fans to know that he has a fighter mentality, no matter how long he has to prepare.
Muhammad said, “You get the credit for being one of those people, one of those people who are ready to fight anytime, anywhere, anywhere.” “And I just want to show the fan base that I am that man. I am the man who is going to be ready, the guy who is always ready to fight and ready to fight. “
In a game in which some players make huge weight cuts, not all fighters can take advantage of the short-notice opportunity that Muhammad had before him – a possible next-in-a-season fight with Edwards (18-3, nine finishes). List of Title Challengers. But when Edwards’ original match with the Khamawat Chimavah, amidst a clash of rapidly emerging prospects from COVID-19, Muhammad leaped to the occasion with enthusiasm.
He usually denied himself training for a fight to join the fast-food favorite, with Edwards’ boxing approaching Muhammad at the right time, three days after defeating Lima.
“I was sitting there looking at myself in the mirror, ‘What are you doing to yourself?” Muhammad said. “And then suddenly, I get a call to fight, and I’m like, ‘Ah, of course! Something to look forward to again.’
“For me, I’m always looking forward. I am not going to sit there and stay on victory for a while. … I am always hungry. I am accustomed to winning, so I always want to keep that feeling. There is no feeling like winning. “
Muhammad’s run of success is impressive, but it’s still not quite the wave that Edwards rides in Vegas. He has won eight of 11 and eight of 10 in the unilateral defeat coming from the decision against future 170-pound champion Kamru Osman – who defended his third consecutive title on 13 February, the night Muhammad made his last bout. Edwards, 30, is coming off a five-round decision win over former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos in July 2019 – a nearly 20-month layoff.
And yet, Muhammad Jordan’s path is not much influenced by Edwards’ tools coming from Birmingham, England. Calling Edwards “a good fighter” who is “pretty good everywhere” and acknowledging his opponent’s long winning streak, the Chicago native cannot pinpoint any one aspect of his opponent’s game that Keeps him awake at night.
“There’s really nothing extraordinary about him where he is, ‘Man, he has amazing jiu-jitsu, or he has amazing hounds, he has Francis Nganou [level] Shakti, ” Muhammad said. “Actually there is nothing that makes me afraid to get into this fight. There is nothing he has that can make me think twice or I might regret taking this fight
“It’s a fight that I think I can win, and it’s a battle I’m going to win.”
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