Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Brutal Advice to Belal Muhammad after UFC Title Win Revealed
Khabib Nurmagomedov had some eye-opening advice for Belal Muhammad following the Chicago native’s welterweight title win last year.
After winning nine straight inside the Octagon, ‘Remember The Name’ secured the biggest win of his career at UFC 304, scoring a unanimous decision victory over Leon Edwards in Manchester to capture the welterweight championship.
Returning to the ‘Second City’ shortly after, Muhammad received a hero’s welcome, but his time to celebrate was cut short after ‘The Eagle’ broke down what it means to not just become a UFC champion but to remain a UFC champion.
“Khabib told me, like, the first thing he told me after the fight was, ‘Now you got to train twice as hard because now the bullseye is on your back. Everybody’s only looking at you, and they’re trying to find your weaknesses. So you have to keep working and keep evolving,'” Muhammad told Barstool Chicago.
“There are a lot of champions who will win the belt, and then, all of a sudden, they’re getting a lot more money. They’re getting a lot more, party invites. So, guys will fall off.”
Could Belal Muhammad’s first UFC title defense go down in Chi-Town?
Muhammad was originally set to defend his title for the first time at UFC 310 against Shavkat Rakhmonov. Unfortunately, he was forced to bow out of the bout due to an infection in his foot.
Since then, no details have been announced regarding when we will see Muhammad back inside the Octagon, but the UFC’s rumored return to Chicago later this year could offer fans a close as to when.
“I’m looking to go everywhere on this planet,” White told Sports Business Journal late last year. “We’re going to start going into cities that we haven’t been to [since] pre-pandemic. We’re going to start going back. We’re going to do Chicago in ‘25. We’re going to go back up to Seattle and hit a lot of other places that we haven’t been in a while, so we’re going to move around a lot in ’25.”
If the promotion plans on making its way to The Windy City in the first half of 2025, there’s a good chance we could see Muhammad put off his return a little longer so that he can defend his title in front of a hometown crowd.
