Welterweight Bully Turned Tactical Chameleon

Streaking Welterweight contender, Belal Muhammad, will finally get his chance to settle the score with 170-pound kingpin, Leon Edwards, this Saturday (July 27, 2024) at UFC 304 inside Co-Op Live in Manchester, England.

At 36 years of age, Muhammad is getting his shot. He may not be the most popular contender, but a 10-fight unbeaten streak is pretty difficult to deny. What’s especially interesting about Muhammad is the variety of styles and tactics he’s utilized along the way. Faced with drastically different opponents like Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson, Muhammad proved himself exactly as elusive or aggressive as the situation called for. His ability to adjust so drastically at the highest level is rare, and it’s what has allowed him to make the absolute most of his abilities.

Is that enough to become champion? Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:

Striking

More than pure speed or power, work rate and consistency are the name of Muhammad’s stand up game.

He’s always working. At range, Muhammad flicks up kicks at every opportunity. Mostly fighting from the Orthodox stance, Muhammad fires kicks from both legs, but his lead leg is particularly fast and snappy. If he’s the one circling, Muhammad does a good job of changing directions and trying to time his opponent’s step forward. If he’s pressuring, Muhammad will flash a jab or feint before kicking.

Muhammad’s boxing is generally solid. He keeps his hands high and throws in combination. His best striking showcase probably came against Sean Brady, even if he spent a large portion of that fight getting dinged by left hooks. All the same, he did good work of sticking Brady with 1-2s and closing combinations with a stiff jab. When he suddenly switched his straight right to an overhand, he caught Brady upside the chin and was able to force a finish.

Solid boxing and a decent left kick does not generally make for a standout striker at 170-pounds. Intelligence and planning is a huge advantage for Muhammad, however. He understands his strengths and weaknesses, as well as style and stance match ups. He always makes the correct choice in approach, choosing to pressure or stay evasive based on the match up.

Muhammad’s stand up victories over Lyman Good and Vicente Luque looked nothing like his wins against Brady and Dhiego Lima. Against the former, Muhammad could not walk down his opposition, who hit harder and throw cleaner combinations. It would’ve been too dangerous, too likely that Muhammad ends up on the wrong side of the power equation.

At distance, however, Muhammad managed to frustrate his opponents. He was active with his kicks and direction changes, and he often hid potshot punches behind those changes in direction. Against opponents looking to set their feet and box, Muhammad continued to stance shift and keep moving. If caught in a bad spot, Muhammad can always use his wrestling to reset.

Muhammad’s more straightforward “Bully” tactics against Brady, Lima, and others took advantage of his toughness and conditioning, but it certainly helps that Muhammad is also makes good decisions for a pressure fighter. He feints reasonably well and keeps his guard high, both important traits when staying right in an opponent’s face. He also makes a point to target the body, and when his opponent’s footwork does start to break down against the fence, Muhammad will open up and punish their attempts to reset.

Both strategies are demanding ways to fight, but Muhammad has the cardio to push the pace.

Defensively, Muhammad has some vulnerabilities. Brady’s in-and-out movement gave him a lot of trouble, but the prospect simply couldn’t maintain Muhammad’s pace and capitalize. In addition, Muhammad is not particularly great at defending kicks. That’s a problem against Edwards, who will surely be looking to snipe at Muhammad from the outside.

Wrestling

Two of Muhammad’s best wins over Thompson and Maia can be almost entirely credited to his improved wrestling. Notably, Muhammad has trained with Khabib Nurmagomedov, and it shows.

Muhammad has two distinct styles of takedown: in the open and against the fence. He seems to prefer the double-leg shot either way, but there’s differences in execution. In the center of the cage, Muhammad tends to prefer the more MMA-style of running double. He does, however, do a very nice job of cutting the corner, meaning that sometimes his opponent’s sprawl simply transfers him to the back. In addition, Muhammad will attempt simultaneous shot-trips in the open, something he used against Sato to great effect.

Things are a bit different along the fence. Typically, Muhammad will drop lower, often hitting both knees on the canvas as he searches for the hips. There’s a general rule in wrestling never to wrestle from one’s knees, but Muhammad is just using that position briefly, a way to get beneath his foe’s attempted underhooks. Once his hands are locked, Muhammad will rebuild back to his feet before completing the shot.

It’s also worth-mentioning that Muhammad does a nice job of finishing takedowns with big lifts. When in a high-crotch or head outside double leg position, Muhammad applies the “golf club swing” technique I once broke down for Daniel Cormier, rotating his body and lifting his foe to his shoulder.

Muhammad’s best offensive wrestling performance undoubtedly came against Stephen Thompson. Right away, Muhammad demonstrated his smarts, methodically cutting off the cage and moving Thompson towards the fence. Once Thompson was within a few feet of the fence, Muhammad would change levels and force his foe into a grimy wrestling match.

If the double leg takedown was there, Muhammad would look to connect his hands and finish, but that wasn’t usually the case. Muhammad was often forced to work from the single leg, a position strikers like “Wonderboy” (and Muhammad himself) use to stymie shots. Muhammad avoided that fate with good posture, getting his hips close to Thompson and the cage. From this position, Muhammad could still seek to finish that golf swing lift, or he could elevate Thompson and try to trip the base leg, Khabib-style.

Speaking of single leg defense, Muhammad put on a clinic vs. Demian Maia. Any time the Brazilian shot, Muhammad was clubbing his head to the inside position and getting his back to the fence, a pair of defensive moves that make back takes far more difficult. Once there, Muhammad would work to control his opponent’s wrists, often going two-hands-on-one to really prevent Maia’s transitions.

With Maia stuck in place, Muhammad would land small, annoying strikes, look to free his leg and return to open space.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt, Muhammad is not the most active submission grappler. However, he is very quick to jump onto the back, and the rear-naked choke accounts for his single career submission win.

Muhammad’s strategy on the mat is pretty clear — he’s usually looking to jump into back mount. If he’s able to cut the corner on his double-leg shot, he’s in perfect position to start putting hooks in. However, his back-taking is often more the result of necessity rather than choice. Holding down skilled opponents is difficult.

Often, Muhammad opts to take his chances and throw hooks in rather than force himself to try to take down his foe a second time if they’re able to wall-walk. Still, judging by how often he’s able to gain both hooks and control opponents after the takedown, it’s clearly something Muhammad is good at. His best position of the fight vs. “Wonderboy” came when Muhammad jumped his back and immediately flattened his opponent out with hip pressure, nearly securing a strikes stoppage in the process.

Conclusion

Muhammad is a fighter who adjusts expertly to each opponent, but Edwards still represents a difficult style match up for him. The English champion is a considerably more refined kickboxer than the contender, meaning “Bully” will have to double down on his roots, walk through punishment, and really force the issue to find any success.

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