Top welterweight contender Belal Muhammad took questions from members of the official UFC 288 Weigh-In Show crew ahead of …
biggest fight of your career blog coming up on short notice right off of Ramadan so you found out essentially three weeks ago that you were gonna have this fight I saw you in the elevator yesterday and you basically said you know you felt so good coming out of Ramadan that that wasn’t a huge issue of course you’re fasting throughout that time and I’m I’m just wondering if only having three weeks to focus on this is almost easier for a guy like you who trains year round yeah I mean for me it’s like you give me eight weeks I’m gonna beat Jon Jones you give me three degrees you want to wait in the world I love that why did you ask for five rounds in this fight you saw what I weighed in I waited in a championship wait I’m a championship fighter I’m here to prove that I’m a champion all Champions do is fight five rounds yo what’s up below how we doing it’s why but um originally you weren’t gonna take this fight I believe because Ramadan it was just too much it was on such short notice and you’re on this huge win streak where like most people feel like you deserve to be fined for the belt already what what made you change and decide to take this fight you know I was just sitting there thinking to myself and I’m like thinking of the stories of guys like you who fought Damien one week notice and guys like Bisbee who won the title line a couple days notice and like good legendary stories and where you guys went from there and I was like this is gonna be a part of my story like nothing was ever given to me I had to take everything I earned and uh this is gonna be one of those things when he said wait tomorrow night he’s gonna give me the title fight I love it and then like obviously this is such this is definitely a number one Contender fight for you it’s on short notice pressure wise it because it’s such short notices there less pressure do you feel like on you or or just kind of same as always yeah for sure definitely less pressure because I’m a guy who overworks I like I’ll sit there eight weeks overthink the process sit there do double the work that I should be doing so like right now I’m like dang it’s five week already tomorrow’s a fight perfect let’s go right I love that about short notice fights you know like everyone feels bad dude in those fights but like there is there’s a blessing in disguise with that so I can hear in your voice how it’s changed because you’re cutting the weight your your breath probably stink real bad right now but it’s like good with everything cut is done and now all you got to do is get the business first of all I’m looking at you with the ballot I’m looking at the other guys with disappointment I like how you guys keep that in DC yeah this tastes like this tastes so good I can’t wait uh after this like you said putting the fuel back in me tomorrow it’s gonna be so good well you know uh last week I had to call you because you told someone you weighed 207 pounds so everybody was worried so not a question becomes how much do you weigh going into the Octagon tomorrow night how much do you put on as you go back in there because everybody was scared thought you weighed 210 seven days before the fight nah for me I’d like to be I like to go under a light like I like to walk around at 185 186 and that’s where I feel my best and I’m working with the best in the world uh people don’t get my sense of humor so I saw bread write the article my bro I was just joking around when it called I’ll let bro it’s all funny games he’s like man he hilarious like I don’t think they get your sense of humor I was like all right well you sound like you’re having a good time man you sound energetic you don’t seem to be hurting as bad as most when they step off the scale it’s always easy for me I love this game I love this sport man it’s it’s all a part of the game and tomorrow’s the night where I get to have my fun so now it’s like nothing else matters uh you know a lot of us have been talking this week about the strain that Ramadan puts on your body physically and how hard it is to train you know without the calories and stuff but I thought it was really interesting to hear you talk about how yeah maybe it’s tough on my body but it’s the clearest that my mind ever will be and I think I I just had never thought about it that way explain that for those of us who don’t you know who don’t celebrate Ramadan yeah honestly like Ramadan for for me is like a detox like your whole mind everything you do negatively in your life you try to better yourself as a person religiously bring your clothes yourself closer to God like stop doing all the extra waste of time stuff you’re doing I was doing that the whole month and I’m like when they call me for the fight I’m like mentally I feel the best I’ve ever felt mentally and then for Fighters it’s like I could trade eight weeks my body would be the best it’s ever felt but if I get in the cage my mind’s not right I’m still gonna lose so now my mind is where it’s supposed to be at I don’t care where my body’s at because the mind is 90 of where the fight is Dana has said definitively that the winner of this fight will get the next title shot after Leon fights Colby so knowing what your path looks like if you get past this fight what what does what’s a perfect performance look like on Saturday for you what’s the perfect ending look like honestly that just hearing the boss say that that’s excites me so much for me it’s going out there and piggybacking off that finish I got up Sean Brady that was the biggest fight of my career this is the biggest fight of my career tomorrow night and uh I’m gonna show you guys how great I really am and you guys are going to be sitting there like that was in my three weeks notice what are we gonna see from about a real full eight week Camp it’s gonna be unbelievable remember the name biggest fight of your career good luck brother I know a lot of people are rooting for you out there everybody knows how hard you work thank you brother appreciate you guys