Former Champ Releases Statement After Razor Close UFC 315 Loss

Saturday night didn’t go exactly as planned for the former UFC welterweight champion, Belal Muhammad of Chicago, Illionois (24-4, 1NC). 

A five-round war was battled between Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena of Perth, Western Australia (18-2) at UFC 315 and the former champ came up short on the judges scorecards. However, despite the setback, ‘Remember The Name’ is already looking ahead.

The 36-year-old took to social media on Saturday night to release a short statement.

 

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“Allah’s plan is the best plan,” Muhammad wrote. “Alhamdillah for everything. Thank you to all my supporters. I been here before and I’ll be back.”

Belal Muhammad Has Been Here Before

Muhammad hasn’t seen a blemish on his record since 2019, when he lost a unanimous decision to Geoff Neal of Dallas, Texas (16-6). Following that, he rode a 10-fight winning streak, with one no-contest to Leon Edwards of Birmingham, England (22-5, 1NC) due to an illegal eye-poke. That is six years without a loss for the Chicago Fight Club product and an 11-fight unbeaten streak.

The Chicago native earned championship status when he put a bully beatdown on Edwards at UFC 304 in July of 2024.

On Monday morning, Muhammad once again took to Instagram with the following statement, “Fall Down 7 stand up 8.”

 

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Several fighters hopped on social media to give Muhammad the credit he deserved following the UFC 315 loss. One that stood out came from the reigning UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili of Tbilisi, Georgia (19-4), who posted, “You are a great fighter respect Belal.”

In late 2024, a fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov of Kokshetau, Kazakhstan (19-0) was set to go down, but was unfortunately cancelled due to Muhammad being forced to withdraw with a foot/bone infection. Stylistically, this is a match-up that could sell and be a step in the right direction for Muhammad to get back to title contention.

Muhammad is now 15-4 under the UFC banner, with notable victories over the current number 1 ranked welterweight Sean Brady of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (18-1), as well as past title contenders Gilbert Burns of Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (22-8), Stephen Thompson of Simpsonville, South Carolina (17-8-1) and Demian Maia of Sao Paulo, Brazil (28-11).

It is not clear what is next for the former champ, or when he will return to the Octagon, but many fans and pundits fired at him for being a boring grappler, and this fight at UFC 315 definitely proved them wrong.