Sean Strickland compares Belal Muhammad to a terrorist
Sean Strickland may have taken things a little too far in his rivalry with UFC 304 headliner Belal Muhammad.
Crossing the line is pretty much Strickland’s official brand at this point, but fight fans weren’t exactly thrilled with his latest dig at Muhammad on social media.
“Belal looks like why I have to take my shoes off in airports…..” Strickland commented on Instagram.
While ‘Remember The Name’ hasn’t responded to the ill-advised comment, Strickland drew the ire of users on both Instagram and X, many of them condemning the “disgusting” statement.
“Sean Strickland implying Belal Muhammad is a terrorist simply because he’s Muslim. Disgusting & despicable behavior but I wouldn’t expect any less & you know a large swath of the MMA community will cheerlead this behavior,” one user wrote.
Another noted how Strickland had nothing to say about another Muslim fighter—Islam Makhachev—while sitting next to him during the UFC 302 press conference in June.
“It’s funny how Sean didn’t [say] anything like that when he was sitting next to Islam at the press conference. He went backstage and said it in one-on-one interviews.”
Sean Strickland and Belal Muhammad trade barbs following UFC P.I. encounter in 2023
Strickland and Muhammad have taken jabs back and forth over the years, but things seemed to escalate last year when ‘Tarzan’ shared a video online that featured Muhammad training in the background. Strickland labeled the top-ranked welterweight ‘thunder thumbs’ in the clip, which you can see below:
Unenthused by Strickland’s antics, Belal Muhammad issued a response shortly after, telling the former middleweight champ that he’s simply “not that guy.”
“This guy’s trying to act tough again on social media. Looking for clout chasing, trying to get views for a podcast,” Muhammad said. “I offered to fight you. You turned it down. You putting out this video of you recording from a distance, muttering under your breath, thunder thumbs, which is not even clever. Your racist hillbilly fans are saying ‘Oh man you’re a beast’, ‘you’re a man’, look how crazy he is.
“But look at the distance. It’s like someone recording a lion in the wild. You stay at a safe distance. You don’t get into the danger zone. You didn’t get into the danger zone. Just stop this. You’re not that guy. You’re more of like an emo Peewee Herman.”
Strickland snapped back, welcoming a fight with Muhammad anytime, anywhere.
“Man, you guys believe this f*cking clown? Lmao ok p*ssy tomorrow 11am,” he wrote. “Gloves, no gloves idc….”
As far as we know, that encounter never happened, but if Belal Muhammad manages to defeat Leon Edwards for the welterweight title in Manchester, perhaps we’ll see Strickland move up and try to settle things with ‘Bully B’ inside the Octagon.
