Belal Muhammad 1-on-1 with Kevin Iole

UFC's No. 6-ranked welterweight Belal Muhammad previews his fight Saturday against Vicente Luque at UFC Vegas 51.

Video transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

KEVIIN IOLE: Hey, everybody. I am Kevin Iole. Welcome to Yahoo Sports. On April 16th at Apex, there is a good one in the main event. It is a rematch of a fight from a few years ago. Vicente Luque going up against my guest right now Belal Muhammad in a very important welterweight fight. Belal, welcome. Thank you very much for joining me.

BELAL MUHAMMAD: Thanks for having me, bro. I'm glad to be here.

KEVIIN IOLE: You know, one of the questions I guess-- you know, obviously you have to get some answers. He caught you with a left hook the last time and was able to stop you in that first fight. But the other thing that I guess is interesting is you are Muslim and yet-- this is the month of Ramadan, and you are on a fast. And so I just find it fascinating. As an athlete, how do you get nutrition to be able to per-- train the way you need to and be ready for the fight?

BELAL MUHAMMAD: For me, it's hard, but it's-- I've done it for multiple camps already, so, like, I kind of have it down to like a system of just putting the right stuff in when it's time to eat, when I break my fast at 7:00 PM at night. It's like-- like I just finished the weight cut, where I got to put the right fluids in and then get the right stuff in so I'll able to perform and do well the next day at practice, so, like, just getting the right carbs in, getting in stuff that's going to-- like white rice, white potatoes, stuff that digests quickly.

And then you still don't want to go overboard and ruin your weight cut as well, so just staying healthy, staying on the course with it. Luckily for me, it's-- I've done it already before. And it's not a full month I have to go through yet. It's the second week that-- the fight week.

So for my fight, it was a lot harder because I had to go for-- for the full month and then maintain the weight cut the whole time through. So this time, it's been a little bit just because it was longer camp. So I was adjusting already my weight cut, everything toward it already, trying to get my weight lower already before the month hit.

KEVIIN IOLE: You're one of those guys that, you know, anybody, anytime, anywhere, and everybody knows that about you. But I almost wonder, why not-- why take a fight during Ramadan when you have to train like that as opposed to just waiting till afterwards and say, hey, I'm not available during this period of time? And that way, you know, you can be on-- firing on all cylinders and not have to make any adjustments.

BELAL MUHAMMAD: Honestly for me, I was-- I tell myself every year, like, I'm not going to do it this time. I'm not going to do it this time. But this-- for this one, it was weird because, you know, they were calling me for a fights in March, and then they were calling me for the end of March. And then it was like the beginning of April, then I'd like-- they were like, you want to-- do you want to fight him? Do you want to fight him? Do you want to fight him? And I was like, yes, yes, yes.

And then, all of a sudden, they kept switching it up. And then, they said, all right, it's you and Luque, but they didn't have a date on there. And then, he called me back, and he was like, all right, that's you against Luque, April 16th, main event. And then, all I heard was, Luque, main event, and I was just like, let's go, not thinking about the date or anything. But it was just the name and the fight I wanted, so it's like, all right, let's get it.

I don't real-- I'm not a guy that really thinks about, all right, let me make sure that I don't have no weddings or anything to go to before this fight. It's like, all right, you call me for a fight, I'm going to say, if I like the name, I like the-- it's going to do a lot for my-- for me, I'm going to take it.

KEVIIN IOLE: Hey, the two of you are probably two of the hottest guys in the division right now. You're really racking up a lot of wins. Obviously, this is, you know, maybe-- I don't know if I want to say personal, but you have some-- a little chip to try to get back. When you look back at that first fight, was it just one single mistake do you feel like? Or was it a good-- he hit you with a left hook that was the beginning of the end? Was that just a good play on his part?

BELAL MUHAMMAD: Yeah, for me, I just don't want-- I don't like to overthink it. I just think that I'm a whole different fighter, and I think that I had to go through that to get to where I am today. I don't like to look back on there and be like, oh-- ah, man, he read this or he read that.

It was a short notice fight for both of us. I just think I just got caught. It's [? 4 ounce ?] gloves, that's-- it happens. But in the end, like, looking back at it, looking at the trolls and the stuff that always like post it, and send me pictures of it, and stuff like that, it does nothing but motivate me because I've come a long way since that fight, and I'm a whole different fighter. So for me, I'm just more excited that, you know, that's he's continued to win, and he's continued to finish guys. And he's number four in the world, so it's not like I lost to a bum--

KEVIIN IOLE: No, you didn't.

BELAL MUHAMMAD: I always like when I fight-- when I fight opponents, I always like to pay attention to them afterward to see what they do next and to see-- I would-- I always hope that they always win.

KEVIIN IOLE: You're 6 and 0 with a no contest since then, so obviously things have continued to do well for you. You went into that fight on a winning streak as well, so you've been really hot for quite a while now. But what is-- what would you say is the difference between the Belal Muhammad of 2022 compared to the late 2018 version that lost to Luque?

BELAL MUHAMMAD: Honestly, I just think that it's going through the grind. I've been through a lot more now. When I did-- when I was fighting that one, like you said, I was 9 and 0 when I first got into the UFC, then I lost my first debut. But it was the Fight of the Night, so it was like, all right, I had an excuse.

It was Fight of the Night, but it was-- it was a li-- it was a debut, a short notice fight, and it was in Ramadan. So I was like, all right, you know what-- you give yourself those excuses. And then, you come in your second fight in the UFC, and I won by TKO. So then, I'm like, all right, I'm back on board, back to the winning ways, back with my confidence. So you're back in that hype, and then all of a sudden, you get caught in your third fight.

So then, you're-- you start realizing like, all right, you know, there's people out here that could put you to sleep with one punch. There's people here that just have that natural power and natural ability, so I need to step up my defense, step up my game. And in the end, I end up doing that, and I've beaten a lot better guys since then.

And one of the biggest things was beating a guy like Wonderboy because a guy like Wonderboy beat Luque, and he beat him pretty handily. So it's like when I-- when they called me for the Wonderboy fight, I was like, well, I don't want to fight Wonderboy. He beat Jeff Neal, and he beat Luque. And both those guys me, so what am I going to do differently that they didn't do?

So that was more of a confidence thing for me, where it was like I was looking for-- you know, give me somebody else. Give me Chimaev instead of Wonderboy. But getting past Wonderboy, I think, it puts me over the hump, and it lets me know that I belong in here with these top guys. And I could beat anybody in the world.

KEVIIN IOLE: You know, it's interesting to hear you say that because you fighters are human too. And you guys have the same doubts, and fears, and worries that the rest of us have, right? But even though you had that concern-- hey, I don't want to fight Wonderboy because-- you still went ahead and did it, right? And that maybe separates you guys from everybody else.

What is the calculus, Belal, that you make when you have a fight that maybe the match-up isn't the-- what you want? Or there's things about the opponent that maybe you don't particularly like? How do you go through in your mind because I know you're a yes, right? So you know--

BELAL MUHAMMAD: Yeah.

KEVIIN IOLE: --I think I said about you one time you're the ultimate yes man. They ask you for a fight. You say yes, right? How do you get from, boy, I'm not sure I want to fight Wonderboy, to, hey I'm going to kick his butt?

BELAL MUHAMMAD: It's just honestly having the-- a tight circle around you, and my coaches, my team. Just having them and understanding that they're-- they know how to read guys. I think that my team is the best at reading opponents, and understanding where their weaknesses are, and how to beat them.

And you know, like, for me, I'm always-- I'm always doubting myself because I always-- things I get to do better. I always think I need to be better than what I am. If I train twice a day, I think I need to go one more time. I'm not going hard enough.

But my coach is always looking at me like, bro, you're going to be a champion. I know how good you are. You get-- right when I told him Wonderboy fight-- oh, yeah, dude, we have the right game plan to beat him. And I'm sitting there like, you talk-- you talking about the same Wonderboy? Do you think he's going to be easy?

And you know, just having those guys around me, I think that it just gives me more confidence. And I have my-- I have three brothers that are all like-- my oldest brother is the type of guy that'll always tell me, like, bro you need to be fighting for the title right away. And it was my first fight in the UFC, and I'm like, bro, relax. He'd be like, you need to be fighting this guy, or that guy, this-- like, trust me, you're going to kill these guys.

I'm looking at it as like, yo, all right, let me work my way up to the top. And he's always telling me, nah, you're this. You're-- trust me, you're this good. So just having those guys around me are the ones that push me.

And you know, even though I still had those doubts-- so I had those doubts probably up until probably two weeks before the Wonderboy fight, where I was like, dang, am I going to get caught with one of his things? You read comments, and people are like, yo, he did this, this, and this to this guy. These-- there's not really anybody in there that dominated him.

He goes in there with a crazy style. I was in there with camps with Anthony Pettis and Woodley, and they were saying that there's really no way to emulate him. And you know, it just makes you a little bit nervous, but then you start realizing and telling yourself, I can be good enough. Why can't I be good enough?

If I want to be the champ, I have to fight guys like this. And I have to get over these little humps and these hurdles. And just getting over that one right there, I think that just put me on a whole new level of confidence.

KEVIIN IOLE: You know, that's interesting to hear you say that. Did you get any boost from Gilbert Burns's performance against him? Gilbert Burns, you know-- no, he's a different fighter than you, and he fought a different fight, right? But when you saw that Wonderboy-- there was ways to beat him, right, I mean, did that make a-- did that make any impact on you?

BELAL MUHAMMAD: I mean, a little bit. But then, it also made me overthink it too because people were like, wow, it's going to be easy. You take him down, and you hold him down. But then, if you just lost like that, obviously you're going to be working twice as hard to not let that happen again. So then, it made you think like, man, I wonder how hard Wonderboy's wrestling is?

Right now, he's probably wrestling hard right now because obviously his kickboxing is wa-- the best in the division. So basically this whole camp is going to be him working [? on ?] defending the takedown. And then, you telling yourself, like, should I even try to take him down because it's not going to be worth it?

And then, it's like, all right, you go in there. You get a feel for him, and you feel like, all right, I belong in here. Once I got that first takedown, it was like, I could do this. I could do this. Just keep this going. That felt OK. That felt all right.

He hit me with a spinning heel kick. That didn't hurt. That's fine. All right, that was what we were worried about. We were worried about those weird shots. And just feeling that stuff, it just-- the momentum and the confidence just started building round by round.

KEVIIN IOLE: How much-- you know, from a psychological standpoint, your teammate Julianna Peña wins the title, right, and she-- I thought she was nuts before the fight, right? She's saying, Amanda Nunes is ducking me, and-- it's like, hey, Amanda's not ducking you, right? Why would she be ducking you?

And she had this brash talk, and it was almost crazy talk, right? And then she goes out, and she backs up her words. How much-- you know, when you see that-- somebody that you see train, and you see-- does that translate into it helping your own confidence knowing, hey, I'm successful too? I'm in a similar position in my division as she was in hers. And if she had that confidence, I can do the same thing.

BELAL MUHAMMAD: Yeah. Honestly, like, the high tides raise all ships. Our team is running hot right now. We're a small team. And a lot of the time when we're working or one of us has a fight, the whole team's working on to help that person for their fight.

So I was seeing her in her camps and especially the first time it got pulled out. And then, she went back into the gym, started working hard again. And people were sitting there like, oh, she's lying. She doesn't believe it. But she's not fake.

When she says, she's like-- when she believes it-- what she says, she believes. And even in the training room, you can just tell the confidence that she has. And it just makes you more confident as well too because, like, I'm doing the same stuff as her, so I should be having that same confidence.

And it just makes you-- you hungrier because you see her, and you see all the doubt that you had. And then you see her fighting literally the GOAT, Amanda Nunes. Obviously, you know, I've had days where I'm looking at her like, it's going to be tough. What does she do to-- what is she going to do to beat her?

Amanda Nunes is so good everywhere. And working the desk and being an analyst, you try to break down a girl like that in Amanda, and it's like, what way is there to beat her besides being tough, and being in her face, and breaking her? And I was like, you know what? If there's something that Julianna could do, it is-- she could break her.

That it is possible, but I don't know if she's tough enough. But then, when you-- when I saw that round, the second round, and she was standing there taking-- going for-- blow for blow for her-- and I've seen her break, and then it just makes you more excited. And it's, like, fatigue makes a coward of us all.

It wasn't like it was like a-- it was a crazy choke or a crazy submission. She just got tired, and she broke mentally. And I think that that's what our team is very good at, breaking guys.

KEVIIN IOLE: You're in an interesting position. You win this fight, and you got to assume you're fourth if you beat that fourth-ranked guy. And now, above you, you know, a couple of guys that you-- Leon Edwards and Usman fighting, and so you've got a lot going on there.

What do you think will win over Luque does? Where does that put you in the division? What do you think would be logical next if you win this?

BELAL MUHAMMAD: I mean, I think it comes down to-- this weekend as well, it comes down to if Khamzat wins. I think that if he wins, I think it'll end up being the winner of my fight fights him. If Gilbert Burns ends up winning. I think that the winner of our fight's the number one contender to fight Usman or Leon Edwards.

And in general, I just don't-- I don't know if Usman really is going to be back in July. So I really want to see if they actually book that fight because I've heard bad things about those hand injuries, and I know that they always re-hurt and things like that. So I don't know if he's-- if he's trying to come back a little bit too quicker than he should.

If that happens, then maybe there's an interim title fight, and it's against Leon. So there's a lot of things that can happen. But I think it all just comes down to first beating Vicente with a great performance. Like, I've been calling for a main event. I've been wanting a main event. My last one got spoiled by an eye poke. So it's-- this time I go over there, I want to show them that I should be a main event. I need more main event fights.

KEVIIN IOLE: And a lot of people-- like, I think if they don't look at the record, they go, well, he lost to Leon Edwards, right? It was one round of a five-round fight that-- you did not lose the fight, right? The fight did not come to a conclusion. So given that and that history that the two of you have, does that make you want to fight him-- have him beat Usman and fight him more? Or would you prefer to be the guy that knocks Usman off the perch?

BELAL MUHAMMAD: You know, it's funny because I was just talking to somebody about that the other day, about, like, guys are so good at, like, changing the narrative. Guys just sit there, and people-- you know, the normal Joe Schmo fan will believe whatever you tell them. And they're like, oh, yeah, he was killing him.

And I'm looking at-- back at the stats. It was 16 strikes and eye strikes in that Leon fight. It was not that just because he says, oh, the fight would have continued on that way. No, it wouldn't have. There's four more rounds. You've seen it and-- happen a million times, where guys lose the first round, and they come back and win.

And even kind of with this Wonderboy fight, where he keeps telling people, oh, it wasn't really a fight, you know? He just held me down. And I'm sitting here like, you don't 30-25 somebody just by holding them down and laying on top of them. You 30-25 somebody by hurting somebody. But guys have a big following, and they just say something, and people just believe it.

But for me, honestly, I want to fight Usman. That's the guy that-- you know, the pound-for-pound champ, the guy that they say is unbeatable. But for me, I see a lot of openings in his game, and I see that my style really matches up well with him.

I think that the guy who's given him his toughest fight is Colby Covington, and I think that I'm a better version of Colby Covington. So I think that me fighting him would make for a great fight.

KEVIIN IOLE: I'll ask you the same question I asked Gilbert Burns recently. And I talked to him about the fact that, hey, he's got a big fight against Chimaev. If he wins that fight, you know, be right there for a title consideration again. But then Usman's talking about fighting Canelo Álvarez

So it's like on the one hand, hey, you don't want to deny a guy a massive payday if he fights Canelo Álvarez in a boxing match. But by the same token, if he does do that, that puts all you guys kind of on the back burner. How do you view that? And like, if-- I don't think that-- personally, I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think that's in the cards, but he thinks it is. So if it does-- let's just play the hypothetical. If it does, Belal, how do you react to it?

BELAL MUHAMMAD: I mean, like I said, if-- for a big payday, yeah. Obviously, anybody would want a big payday, and I'll be happy for him to get his big payday. But to me, I think that he's good at just creating headlines. And you see it nowadays with a McGregor who will just post the most random things just to stay in the attention and stay in the fans eyes.

Usman's injured right now, so he's not really fighting or anything right now. So saying those type of things, bringing up that type of attention just gets the fans talking, and interacting, and bringing up your name. I don't think he really wants that fight. I don't think that fights really going to happen.

But I just think it's those guys like him that are smart at just stealing headlines like you see with McGregor. Why wasn't I at WrestleMania? Shut up, dude. You're-- nobody cares about you anymore. But you know, you want that attention. You get-- you-- like, that's what he lives for now--

KEVIIN IOLE: You're good with that stuff though. I see your I-- social media.

BELAL MUHAMMAD: You know, I tried that, but I understand it. I understand, all right, if I come at McGregor, then it's going to get all of this fan boys to come in interact with me. So I'm happy about it. I'm cool with it.

It's funny to me when these little trolls come and attack you, but I understand it. I understand what these guys are doing, but don't sit there and say that, man, I could knock out Canelo Álvarez in the second round. It's not the same sport. It's not the same thing.

And Canelo Álvarez is not going to let that-- I don't even think Canelo Álvarez-- he was asked about it, and he was just like, huh? What are you talking about? Who? OK, sure.

KEVIIN IOLE: Yeah, no, I asked him about it, and he just said, payday!

[LAUGHTER]

So let's wrap on this, and this is something like-- I think these kind of fights hurt MMA, right? And the reason I say that is, you know, you're talking about somebody who's a specialist in-- in boxing compared to somebody who's a generalist and does a little bit of everything right. So when you put those fights together-- if they're hi-- similar level fighters, the boxer is almost always going to win, right?

So why do them? Don't you think that that makes MMA look bad, even though in a real fight an MMA fighter would destroy a boxer. But when you keep going into these boxing matches, and guys keep going-- getting beaten, that just-- don't you think it hurts the image of your sport?

BELAL MUHAMMAD: Not really the sport. I think it just kills these guys's legacies a little bit. Like, I mean, when you see a guy like Ben Askren who was a world champion and things like that. People forget it. Nobody remembers that anymore. All they remember is him getting knocked out by Jake Paul.

Even kind of like Woodley too, where-- he was a champion. He was considered one of the guys that was right underneath GSP, and then, same way, you lose to Jake Paul. And it just hurts your legacy more than anything.

I don't think it really hurts the sport because, like you said, people know if it's-- we're in the backyard, and you're saying, oh, yo, me against you-- let's fight. The MMA fighter is going to win 90% of the time. And I think boxers know that as well.

I think that if they start doing those-- that Muay Thai fight kind of like the Demetrius Johnson one-- something like that would be cool. It be like, all right, we'll box for one round, then we get to grapple. And I think that somebody like Tyson Fury wouldn't be afraid to do something like that.

I think-- how you we're saying that, like, let's box-- I'll box Francis with four-ounce gloves. All right, now that makes it's a little bit more interesting. But if you're sitting there like just a regular boxing match in your world, it's not the same.

KEVIIN IOLE: Yeah, no doubt. Well, on April 16th, you can see this young man in action against Vicente Luque, which should be a fantastic fight. It has Fight of the Night written all over it. We wish you luck, Belal, my friend and all the best to you. Thank you for your time.

BELAL MUHAMMAD: Thank you, brother. I appreciate you, man.

KEVIIN IOLE: See you soon.