At this stage of his profession, it’s unlikely Sean Strickland will head back to welterweight. But when he does …
UFC 170-pound champion Belal Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC), it’s protected to say, is not any 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) within the UFC 312 foremost 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 bit greater than a 12 months 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 all the time right. I’ve been saying eternally he’s trash. He talks a giant 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 perfect boxer, the perfect boxing defense, this and that …
“He’s going to go to war and kill. ‘I’d bleed for my fans. I’d die for my fans.’ Blah blah blah. But you go on the market and he just jabs and teeps and fights like a scared little girl. He doesn’t need to get hit. Even once you’re down 4 rounds, he doesn’t go all out. He doesn’t have it in him unless it’s five seconds left within 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 12 months. They were purported 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 times of Strickland in title fights are over – and likewise 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 only a racist little clown that’s hiding within the body of a fighter. He’s a coward,” Muhammad said. “… He sucks. Finally we get to do away with giving this guy undeserved title shots.”
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