FULL SEND PODCAST - Belal Muhammad | Ep. 156

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Presented by Happy Dad Hard Seltzer. Find Happy Dad near you http://happydad.com/find (21+ only). Video is available on http://youtube.com/fullsendpodcast/videos. Follow Nelk Boys on Instagram http://instagram.com/nelkboys. Part of the Shots Podcast Network (shots.com). You can listen to the audio version of this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & anywhere you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, guys, we got the UFC welterweight champ on today ahead of UFC 315. Before we get into it, if you guys have not tried out the prize picks app for some reason by now, you got to download it right now. I love to fire on sports, and I've tried every single app in the game, and prize picks is by far the best app to fire on sports. Right now, prize picks has a crazy sweepstakes going on. If you put in a $5-3-pick NBA Flex lineup, you're automatically entered into the sweepstakes to win court-side tickets to the end.

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All right, guys, we got a great episode, full-send podcast today. Ahead of UFC 315 this week in Montreal, we got Bala Muhammad on the podcast. We just hit a pretty killer workout, right? Man, you killed it. That was tough. For the first time hitting the stairs, I don't think I've seen anybody do as good as you. Really? Yeah, I'm not to say fighters, like break.

Really? They'll get to the 6-1, but, nah, bro, I'm done, I'm done. But you pushed it, you went hard even with the last sprint. I was like, no, he's going to stop. He's going to stop. But man, you showed it. You've been killing it. We were going to do the pod.

And then I hit him up. And I was like, if you guys were doing a workout, I'll come join. So I was expecting maybe, like, hitting Mitz or something. And then he sends me the location of the stairs. And he's like, we're running stairs. I searched it up. It's like a fucking mountain. Yeah.

But no, we did it. We killed it. Anybody from Chicago, that's like the landmark for, like, people that want to work out, people that want to push. Walter Payne has been there. Any fighter that trains goes there, you'll see it. When it's nice outside, it's, like, packed. It'll be hard to even, like, run up them. Yeah.

So we got the fight against Madelena next week, Montreal. We're going to be there. Where does this rank amongst, like, tough fights in your career, would you say? I mean, for me, it's your tough fight. Your next fight, you're always your toughest fight. Like, I never ever look past an opponent because it's so hard in the sport. But for myself to see where I am right now and then, like, skill-wise, body-wise, like, I feel like I'm the best I've ever been.

And when I'm looking at everybody else in division, even looking at Jack, I just don't see anybody like on my level I feel like some crazy shit now is happening at lightweight and welterweight like recently and I feel like this fight that your fight I feel like is going to be the most watch

fight by like UFC fighters in lightweight and welterweight because I feel like your fight is just depicts what like everything else is going to happen at those two divisions would you agree? Yeah it's like the jingle board right you got to pull it all out and they're all just like waiting for it to happen and I feel like Dana and all them guys are

They're waiting to. Yeah, they probably have so many contracts. Like, this, this, this. Yeah, because who's, like, Islam's kind of waiting, obviously, to see what happens. And then I'm sure, like, that decides Oliver's fight, Ilya's fight, Gae's fight, and then Welterweight, I'm sure, like, all those guys are waiting to see what happens. So it's kind of crazy, yeah?

But I just, like, I already told them, like, there's no need to wait. Like, I'm going to win. So whatever your plans are before that, and I'm, like, especially with myself, I already know there's so many people that are just, like, have their draft saved of their tweet, That's going to be like, they're hoping that I lose and that they're going to have to keep it in the drafts. Because once we win, they're going to have to just like erase that memory from them. Who's next after this if you win?

And the welterweight. Who do you think deserves it? Because now Ian Gary just won and then, I guess, Shavcott, we don't know. Is there any word on when he's coming back? Yeah, I don't know. Like, I hear that he's going to be out for a little bit longer. I don't know what his injury is. They're very quiet with it.

So no one knows how long he's out for really. Exactly, yeah. And then. Usman and Buckley just got announced. everybody's saying they're the next guy right even like Ian like he's talking he's being vocal with it honestly at all of them I think Sean Brady probably had the best performance like beating Leon Edwards like that finishing him he looked the best but obviously I finished him so is that a fight you'd want to run back or like I mean I think he's earned it like he's got in there but like if if I'm being honest obviously I think would

if Usman goes out there and he gets a big finish against buckley or even if buckley gets a big finish beating Usman and Kobe back to back I think that would put him ahead of everybody else I think Ian or Ian Ousma would probably be the funest buildup if they both know how to talk

and it's always like fun when you have a little bit back and forth yeah so for myself even with like Leon there's trash talk so it made it a fun or buildup like with Jackie's not really a talker so it's not really a fun buildup but obviously the fight's the fight no matter what

how do you think Uzman's going to come out in that fight I think he's been off for a while right does he have an injury or something I just don't think he has any need So he just has to wait Until his cartilage grows back And then he just tries to figure it out And then it takes like two years

For it to come back in there Try stem cells Tries like collagen or something But I think he was waiting For the right moment And I think right now He's thinking that All right well

Buckley's running hot right now It's a winnable fight for him So maybe if he goes out there He beats Buckley He knows that his name's big enough To skip the line You beat Leon pretty I mean it was a close fight

But I feel like you beat him Pretty decisively Were you expecting that from him Because the way he beat Usman twice was like going into that fight, I was like, damn. Like, I thought Leon was about to make a crazy run for a bit, but you kind of just humbled them, right? We've always thought, like, for myself, when I got into the sport, I always looked at who's the champion, who's the guy. And I always thought I could beat all these guys for myself. And I looked at the matchup stylistically.

I knew my style was his, like, his kryptonite, like a pressure fighter that was in your face that was going to break you. I knew I was going to do that. and for me I had probably like a year and a half just to focus and train for Leon because they made me weigh in as a backup I had to wait a full year for him I had a fight

stylistic guy I fought like Daniel Maya who was a straight grappler Wonder Boy who was a straight-up striker Luque who's a knockout artist so I fought all these different styles and whenever you do a camp for a specific style it levels you up so I'm always getting better every camp

and growing every camp and when I saw Leon I was like there's nothing that he's going to show me that I haven't seen before. And also just added the anger part of it, right? Like, he poked me in the eye the first time he fought, and then he was acting like, I didn't deserve it. I didn't earn it.

I was on a knife fight winning streak. So that he did nothing but just, like, put a chip on my shoulder and make me want to embarrass him in front of his people. Is there beef between you and Usman? Oh, bro. Yeah, I don't like him. He was one of those guys, right? When he was a champion, he acted like I didn't exist.

And I was on a good streak. He was always, oh, let me just rematch Kobe. Let me rematch Mazved on. But then when I won the belt Now he wants to like talk right And his ego is so big I went on his podcast What was good with the mystery podcast

Have you ever talked about that or no I was talking about I said about it But like for me It's I understand why they wouldn't want to put it out right Like if you're on a podcast for somebody If I was on a podcast but you want to make you cry On your own podcast like you're gonna hold that in And you're not going to put it out there

What happened? We were on his podcast and Henry Sohudo like Was like you know How does it feel to be champion and you know you're at the top now and i'm like you know it feels good right now because everybody wants to listen to you everybody thinks you're the champ uh everybody has to look up at you now and oushman's like i was a champ too i was like yeah but you're not the champ anymore

and then he just couldn't let it go he's like but i'm right there i was like no bro you're on a three-fight losing streak and he's like i still had the belt and i was like that i'm the champion now but he just couldn't give me my my props right uh it was just one of those where he was just like put out anything you do i do better than you and then i was like but you didn't take the head kid better than me and i think that just like triggered him where he was just like i don't play these games man it's it's it's on site when we do when when people talk like that and i'm just like we're we're right in front of each other on site so then you know you guys did it in person yeah it was in person oh because they do it over zoom sometimes too this was in person oh

we had the same manager right yeah yeah i'll leave he was like i'll leave the goat bro yeah he's the man. And when he told me to go do their podcast, I was like, are you sure? He said, no, brother, it's going to be professional. It's going to be this. Like, you're good. I was like, it doesn't matter with me. Like, I'm the champ, but I don't really care. I'll go on the podcast. And then, you know,

Henry Sehudo, twisted his ankle. I had to break it up. But, uh... Oh, you guys actually got into a physical... Yeah. Yeah. But have you guys said that publicly ever or no? Yeah. I mean, I think it's... I didn't know that out there. But like I said, they had the footage, right? Maybe he's waiting to... Oh, so you guys actually got into it. didn't know that yeah that's funny yeah damn so that would be a good build-up for a fight then right

like he wins the buckley fight put it out there but like i said they got to have the right editors the right people to fix it all up to hide his tears all right guys you guys have heard me talk about the moon pay app for a while now and honestly i'm not going to stop because it is the best app in the game by far to buy and sell crypto moon pay is pretty much the paypal of the crypto world Just like you can go on a site and use PayPal to buy anything, that is now MoonPay for the crypto world. Every crypto app you're using or thinking of using uses MoonPay to allow you to buy crypto, including your favorite payment providers like Venmo, credit card, everything. Also, I know we have a lot of DGens watching right now and you guys have been firing on meme coins. You guys got to check out the Moonshot app, MoonPay's new partner.

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but you you've been with them you train with them like you understand like the brotherhood yeah of them of them guys yeah so like i would never want to like disrespect him in any way or i couldn't even like fight him but habi was in their corner it was just like break my heart because he was one of the guys when i was like still coming up even though he's younger than me like i still like look up to a guy like that right where being a muslim being religious and seeing how he brought the religion into the sport and showed it and like how he like portrayed himself And was a champion, it's like, and like I said, he's helped me and he's never asked for anything in return.

So, like, for those guys, I wouldn't do it. Like, I would move up before fighting them guys. Because Islam, he wants to be double champ. That's no, that's one of his goals, right? So I guess it's like a touchy. Yeah, exactly. And for myself, it was, I feel like I'm at the point now where if I get two wins, two title defenses,

I could start looking and move up. When I'm looking at 85, I think it's an easy division for myself. I don't think it would be a problem. So me and it's like, go double champs, double champ. back to back. Have you in Islam ever like spoken about that? No, I mean, we've talked and it'd be like... Like, has he ever said how he feels about it? Yeah, I mean, he's like...

Same thing. Yeah, same thing. Like, disgust and obviously, like you said, everybody's going to keep asking the same question or they're going to keep like, oh, it's because he's afraid of this guy, he's running from this guy or that guy, and it's like, at the end of the day, there's like really no fighter or afraid of any other fighter. So, like, for ourselves and for myself,

like, I consider them guys' brothers and I would never fight, like, a brother like that, or... And I couldn't see myself, like doing a training camp for those guys or wanting to fight those guys, right? Yeah. Who do you think Islam should fight next then? Honestly, I think Justin makes a lot of sense. For Justin, he's like on a, what is he,

three and one in his last four. He's never fought him before. And people are always going to watch Justin, right? Obviously, Tuporia moved up. But for Islam, who fought Volcanovsky twice and didn't get any credit for it, like people are like, oh, he fought a 45, right? So it doesn't really make sense for him there. All right, let me fight another 45.

fiver and then he beats him and they'll be like well Tuporia has the option of saying well I'm just gonna go back down to 45 I was too small but I think Tuporia is vacated right so that's the difference now is Tepore is saying like I'm no longer at that division like I'm now at lightweight yeah but say he goes up there and he loses he still has the option

like well I'm gonna go back down with the champion I knocked off Okunovsky let me I'll get a rematch right like he'll get that option can't make that weight no more I mean you could always make the life changes right there's a lot of guys especially like Like him where he cuts weight drinking wine and he could do that fight week, I think he probably gets tired of cutting weight. Cutting weight's not fun.

And he probably thinks that with the confidence from knocking out Holloway and Volcanowski back to back, he thinks that, yeah, I can knock these guys out. But the only fight he's had at 55, he's gotten dropped by Jai Herbert. And then we've seen him get outmuscled and out rustled by a couple guys at 45. I think Islam is just going to be way too big for him. But if he goes out there and he beats a guy like Oliveira or even like a Justin or Dustin, like, then you earn your spot. I think that for him, it will just show them and it'll make that fight even bigger with Islam. And then I guess there's Armand at that division too, right? That division's stacked.

Yeah, there's so many good fights for him. Paddy just won two. Paddy too. For Islam, there's guys that he hasn't fought, right? And there's other guys that are up there that are hyping it up and that'll be huge fights. Armand is a beast. but that injury last one so like for him now it's just trying to get another fight out the way but it's hard because nobody wants to fight anybody every one of them saying like now i'm gonna wait for

the title oliver i'm not fighting nobody but for the title to pour you i'm not fighting nobody but for the title jostin i earned a title shot so like you said they're all just waiting for the the dominoes to fall and after next week and i think a lot of like the questions will be answered yeah i saw you posted the other day a t-shirt of you and homzut a fake a fake fight was that like what's going on there is that like something you want to happen one day somebody asked me uh in an interview there like would you move up to 85 if hams that was champion and i said bro i was calling him out when i was at welter rate when he was welter rate i literally wore that shirt to the event and i i had shirts i was throwing out to the crowd

for myself i'm a guy like i want to fight the toughest guys the toughest test they he's undefeated they think that he could walk through everybody you're not going to walk through me so i was calling him out and then he posted like a a pony yesterday and he's like Where are you going to? I was like I didn't quite get it Yeah I don't know if it was like a paddy You know you little sausage or something like that

Yeah I don't know if it was like a Russian joke or something weird Yeah but I was like Alright bro I've been called you out I asked for the fight a million times You don't really know what to do when you get called a pony too I'm like bro I just throws you off I don't know what that means but I'm gonna say he was fucking with you

Yeah A pony it's so random Yeah I was like random But I was like I'm gonna take that as disrespect What are you talking about? Yeah Definitely Is there no Muslim Brotherhood connection there with Hamza? He seems like a bit of an outlier in the Muslim, like, brotherhood world.

Like, he had beef with Abu Bakr too, right? Yeah, he had beef with their team. And I think they'd be about to squash it. They squashed it. Yeah, I think, and like, for myself, it's not like, it's not beef. Like, even if I fight Shafka, he's Muslim too. So, like, I haven't trained with those guys. I haven't, like, sweated, blood with those guys.

So it's not the same thing. And for me, I look at it as a sport. They all want what I have. I'm the champion. So I want what they have, right? like he's got that undefeated streak I want to take that from him I want to take his O from him

so it's all competition it's at the end of the day it's like I want to leave this sport with my resume showing that I fought the best guys and I beat the best guys when people think of me at the he took the toughest test and he went the longest road to get where he got

and he did what nobody thought he could do I started at 23 years old I didn't I wasn't born with it I wasn't from the mountains the dag said like I wrestled two years in high school And this was all just like natural heart, natural skill, natural hard work that got me here. Wow, you started at 23? Yeah, yeah.

And how old are you now? 36. How did you start? I was in college. I was at U of I and I was just like going to be a lawyer. And then like I said, I wrestled at high school in South Side of Chicago and we had a coach there, Lewis Taylor. And he like left after like one year because we were, it wasn't the best school. They didn't really care about the wrestling team.

And then he was like gone and I was like, whatever happened to him. But he was like that cool young coach that you had a connection with. And then when I was in college, I randomly saw him in a newspaper, and he was fighting for strike force. So then I just, like, reached out to him on Facebook, and I was like, bro, you're a fighter? And he's like, yeah, man, I'm a fighter. I train at this gym. And it ended up being, like, near my parents' house. So whenever I'll come home on the weekends, I would go see him, visit him, and then we'll train a little bit.

And then he just started teaching me a little bit. And he started teaching me a little bit more. So every weekend I would come home. I transferred to a closer college here, started training more full-time. And then I was like, let me take an amateur fight. So after like three or four months of training with them, I got an amateur fight. And then I was like locked in. Here in Chicago?

Yeah, I was like, hooked. My hand got raised. I won the fight. But I was like addicted to it. I have like addictive personality. Like when I do something, I go super hard. I go all in with it. So then I was like, I could always go back to college.

I always finish college, go to law school, whatever. But I'm like, let's see how far we can go with this. We started training. we started working and then uh i went pro after three amateur fights um and i said we're just going to until we lose and then we got to nine and oh we won uh uh a titian fc belt and then we got signed to the ufc short notice what was it like getting signed to the ufc it was uh how did you like find out and stuff they called me uh it was like during ramadan and i was like fasting and they called me for it was like three or four week notice to fight alan joban and at the time

he was a big name he had a good streak and i'm undefeated i just won about who called you from there it was just my manager okay yeah so then i was like let's go because i was like at three and oh and i went to try it off the ultimate fighter didn't make it i was at six and oh tried off the ultimate fighter didn't make it and then i kept winning on the thing i was like man are they ever going to call me i'm ever going to get the shot and then once i finally get that call you're like this is it this is my spot i'm going to make it and it was in Vegas it was that uh it was like a International Fight Week, two, where they had, like, three events on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and I fought on Friday.

So, and then I went out there, and it was like, it was a war. It was like fight of the night, but I lost. And it was like my first loss. And then you're like, dang, am I not good enough to be in the UFC? Do I not belong here? So then I was like, call him, Angela, bro, give me another fight right away. And then he got me a fight probably like a couple months later. And then I won.

And then I was like, all right, we're back on it. We're good. with this. We belong here. And then I got to call for the Maddox Square Garden fight. UFC 205,

like the biggest card. And then I go out there and then I lost. It was my first time ever getting knocked out. And that was when I was like, dang, I'm one and two in the UFC.

I'm not good enough to be here. I don't, like, that was it. I was like, they're going to cut me. And then they finally call me like a short notice

fight probably like a month later for Randy Brown. We won that one. We got a new contract, and then from there on out, we just kept winning and just kept pushing it. What do you think changed? Like, what after that loss did you, like, realize? Or what made you change after that? The training, for sure.

Like, for myself, 9 and 0 when I was training, when I first was coming up, it, like, there was, like, no structures to the training. It was mostly just, like, me and Lou, and then we'll have other training partners. I was training with a couple of band weights. My other boy, Horacio, who was a 45er, but, like, we would just, all right let's spar today all right let's wrestle today let's do this today so like there wasn't really like a system um so i like learned after that and then after i took that second loss i was like all right well i need to find other guys to train with i went down to milwaukee

started training with like anthony pettis and the guys at rufusport and at the time he was the champion so i started learning more from those guys seeing how they do it and then i'll bring that back here to these team here and then i'll go to other jams learn from them other jams learn from them And I think it just helped me build a system of what works for me and how we do it. And I think, like, right now, the structure that I have, we do a hard session in the morning. And then the afternoon session is more like a boxing style where it's, we're gearing it toward game planning for a specific opponent. And then, you know, obviously I have strength, conditioning and what you call that. But I made it more of a science instead of, let's just go out there and see what happens.

So now it's like everything's strategy Everything's what's my opponent We're gonna break him down We're gonna do this this and this for this guy We're gonna do drills When we're not in camp We're gonna fix all those stuff that we're not good at And then it's just constant training

Constant improvement instead of We're not an oh We're doing everything right We don't need to fix anything Also guys really really quick We restock full send.com With a ton of new UFC full send stuff It's all on the website right now

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We got Bala Muhammad on the pod ahead of UFC 315. Let's get into it. What do you want to achieve with your UFC career? Like, do you want to be double champ? And like, how long do you want to stay at welterweight before you if you want to move up? For me, with my UFC career, I want to like leave the legacy of beating the best guys, taking the toughest challenges and winning them all um obviously if hams that wins which i think you will at 185 and then he walks through a couple of guys and he's that guy that to think it's untouchable

i think me moving up and beating him that would like cement me as one of the best to ever do it and especially now being at my weight class you got a lot of hungry guys right a lot of undefeated guys guys who they still think will will beat me jacks on a uh 17 fight win streak. So I think there's a lot of guys for me to be at my weight class, but I also have five top ten wins in my weight class. So if I get out there

and win two or three more, then it'll be eight top ten wins in your way class, and there's no other champion that's done that or had to do that. Who do you think is like the next three guys that you'd want to beat? That I want to be? In that division. In my division? In my division? Welterweight, yeah. I think Jack, Shavka,

and I'm hoping Usmae wins because I want Usman. Yeah. Yeah, he's that guy, right? When they're thinking of they had, you know, competition with him and GSP, like, debates. Who's the goat between them at Welterweight? Who you think was more goaded, Usman, or GSP? GSP, I think GSP, no question. 100%.

Like, I don't even think Ushman should. Like, I'm not a hater, right? But when I look at the guys that he's fought. What do you think would have won, though, in their prime, Usman or GSP? GSP. I think it would have been close, though, right? It would have been close, but I think GSP, he's just so smart. And he's just, uh...

He was my favorite. He's better everywhere. I think he's more well-rounded. Uschman was obviously good, right? But the guys that, you know, when you're having a rematches with Kobe and you're having rematch with Mazvedal and you didn't fight different stylistic guys, right? I fought the Maya, the Wonderboy, the Luque, and they were all on good streets at that time. Gilbert Burns as well. Undefeated John Brady.

Like I had to keep fighting a different style every time. For him, it's like, all right, well, Mazvidal, back to back. All right, cool. Kobe back to back and now we're all realizing Kobe sucks so it's like when you look back at his fights who had wars with a guy who sucks it's like well how good was really Usman

and then a guy who got knocked out by Leon and then lost to Leon and then I dominated it Leon it's like was he really that good was you really goaded like a GSP another theoretical one tough position for you but in their both their primes

in a fight that almost happened Khabi or GSP at their primes man I think honestly I don't think anybody would be I think GSP would have beat him Bro, GSP would have took him on the feet I think Habib would take him down To me, bro, he would take him down

So, when he would take him down When he's, bro, I've seen him like Throw two or five pounds around But GSP on the feet was He, I think he would have pieced up, Khabi And I love Khabib, he's like, he's the best But the thing is with Habib, like To piece him up, you have to get close enough to hit him, right?

When you get close enough to hit him, he's going to get his hands up You think he would have took him down? I think he would have took him down I don't know We've seen it get taken down by Josh Kachuk, right? We've seen Hendricks take him down, but those guys were more college wrestlers. True. I think when you look at Habib's style of wrestling and grappling and ground and pound,

it was something that really he didn't have to fight because more of the guys that he fought were, like, specialist. When he fought Johnny Hendricks. I forgot about the Hendricks one. Yeah, right? Like, he was a college wrestler. He fought a specific way. Even Jake Shields was a jitsu-type wrestler, grappler. He fought him a specific way.

Nick Diaz, grappler, specifically. way, I think Habib, his style of grappling and wrestling like, you didn't have to deal with it back then. A lot of those guys in the era didn't have to deal with them back then. But now, like you see, the Dagestani guys are coming, man. They're... They're crazy, bro.

They're taking over, yeah. They're the best. And they're such good role models, too. They're good people to look up to. What's the biggest thing you learn from training with Khabib? Honestly, it's like, you level up everywhere. Like, the hard work. You were there, right? People always like, what's the secret with them, guys? They just push so hard.

every single person in that room they really care about each other like it's a brotherhood it is a brotherhood all they do is train and just talk shit and drink tea exactly right and then nobody has like an ego like i'm not jealous of you that you're the champion now they all like habib will sit there and buy all these guys you know go to the the nicest clothing stores buy them clothes and he'll be like this is my favorite store and he'll go to just like regular buy t-shirt stuff but he's taking care of everybody around him and just like shows you like his humbleness there's not like uh i'm sitting first class you're sitting in the back like he doesn't have none of that no yeah and he's seen that with the playing into the bro exactly right it's just showed you a type of guy here yeah that's what I built around myself like the guys that I have around me the team that I have around me we've all been together probably for like 15 years we all trained together we all started uh together so like even when I got the title fight people are like oh come here to this gym go to a bigger gym here go there and I was like no these are the guys that got me here we all got here together we're all going to win the title together right so even winning the belt it was like a journey

for all of us, right? We achieved it all together because, you know, they're sacrificing time for their day to come and help me train. Like, the people that work with me that are in my corner, like, they have other jobs, they have families, but they're going on the road with me. They're going to practices with me. They're watching me. They're studying tape. And, you know, I don't take that lightly, right? It just makes me want to work that much harder for them because it's a selfish sport but it's also like a team sport as well where like i see you putting it all in so i'm going to go all in for you guys too right what's so crazy about kabib too i think of like it's almost like he got bigger after he retired right 100% which is crazy he can say one thing and then people

are like they'll make 20 articles about it right like he was big after the mcgregor fight but then i think it's when he really like stood on business and actually said like yo i'm walking away because people didn't at first like when someone's as they're retiring they're like yeah right like yeah but it's when he actually said like no like i told my mom i'm done and like he never came back and then you kind of like realize like what type of person he really was you know what i mean oh shit this guy actually like i mean who knows how much he could have made what did the ufc throw at him you think like bro i can't i can imagine how much do you think i would say at least 20 30 mil yeah yeah for sure for that like

McGregor-Kabeeb too. Even with like the bigger names, at that time Olivera was blowing up and he had the hype, right? They were like, oh, Habib's running from Olivera. Like, there was nobody bigger than Habib. And then even with the GSP fight,

if he would have came back for that fight, imagine how big that would have been. I wish. I'm going to see anybody, like, beating him. But like, even for himself, he's, he let it go and he's like, you know, Islam's taking over. He's the one guy taking over now.

And he stuck to his words, stuck to his guns. But he's still in the gym, training with these guys, still in the gym, these guys sacrificing his time and uh it's just like it's cool to see because somebody that like stood by their word like that there's not a lot of guys that would do that i saw you said he said something to you that kind of relieved you of pressure yeah what was that when he cornered me for

the uh the sean brady fight like being religious being Muslim like he was just so chill and calm in the back room and he's like brother you did all the work there's there's no need to be nervous right allah's plan is the best plan if god wants you to lose, it's meant to lose. There's a reason for it. And you just say, al-handa, that means thank God. So even when you win, you thank God. When you lose, you thank God because it's protecting you from something, or it's putting you somewhere in a spot where you can do something else. Even when I look back at my losses, right, it felt like the worst thing that could happen to me at the time. I'm like, bro, I did everything. I worked

hard. I trained hard. Why did I lose? Why was I meant to lose that fight? Why did it happen like this? But then hindsight is 2020. When you're looking back, it made me change. It made me grow it made me learn it made me want to get better here here and here and then i'm like oh so that was the reason for it those were the test for it so when he said that to me just like clicked because you're always like you know you get the nerves in the back room you're like this but you have like a freedom about yourself when you're like the result doesn't matter whatever whatever happens in these 25 minutes 15 minutes it's meant to happen it's just a small window and at the end of the day tomorrow a week later it's going to be forgotten no matter what

What do you think drives you to, like, fight? Like, is it legacy or is it, is there people around you? Like I said, the people around me that have been with me since the beginning. But also for myself, it's just, like, just proving everybody who thought that I couldn't make it here. Like, I've had so many people that, oh, you can't do it. You're not going to make the UFC. Oh, he says it's going to be a champion. You're not going to make a champion.

Like who people in real life or just online? People in real life. Yeah. Yeah, I've had people. I had family members that when I had my first win in the UFC, like, well at least you got one win in the UFC so if you lose the rest of them at least you could say you had one and it was just like is that what you really think like you don't think I'm good enough but it just made me like all right cool like you don't believe me but watch me

do it watch me prove you wrong watch me show you the people online doesn't really matter right like the people that really matter are the people that are in your circle the people that like see me every day see how hard I work I've had coaches that will will tell you like when I first met coach Mike he saw me train one time he said you could be a champion and i was just like no i don't believe him but he like stuck with me he helped me grow he helped me get better he said that to you all the first time yeah really he kept telling you that and the first time you met him first time i met him he said you could be a champion yeah that's fucking crazy bro yeah and he has like a good eye and he's been with like the like the best of the best and then you're thinking like what do you think made him

say that i think he just saw my work ethic like when i go into practice room when i push it's like i push try to push harder than everybody else. And, like, he has guys, one of my main training partners, Ignacio Obama Mondes, who's been training since he was, like, eight years old. And, like, he has, like, the most talent I ever seen. So, like, I went with him the first time.

Like, bro, who the fudge is this kid? And he's a beast. And then, like, but, like, I didn't back down. I'm a guy, if you go with me, you beat me, I want to go with you tomorrow. I go with Habib, he'll freaking smash me. And then I'm so, well, let's try it again tomorrow. If I get it, make him work a little bit

harder tomorrow that means I know I'm getting better I'm growing I'm not a guy that's like gonna shy away like all you beat me let me go with somebody else who's the easier matchup and I think that's just that mentality he saw and I think he just knew what I was capable of what do you say to fans that want you to like finish more fights

is that something you pay attention to or you just don't really care I mean obviously for for me that's always the goal right if I go on every fight and finish it would make my job easier and then we go with that which like I said every fight we look back at the last fight and we try to fix

things and evolve and get better and grow. But I'm fighting the best in the world. It's not easy to finish these guys. It's not easy to beat these guys, right? A lot of these guys are training specifically for you. So for me, it's like you get stressed about it and you're like

I want to finish more. I want to do this more. But at the end of the day, I'm dominating these guys for a full of 25 minutes. I'm beating these guys in all aspects of MMA. I'm beating in the striking, in the grappling, in the wrestling. um so the finishes will come they will happen and they'll just come at the right time right and i just can't be uh impatient with it and i can't try to rush it because that's where

something goes wrong you you get caught or you do you get sloppy in there so for me it's just like staying the course and then once they start happening it'll be at the highest level you gave a pretty decisive description on how you're going to finish this fight i saw on an interview no now i want to finish it more uh more right because now but you went into deep like you're like I'm gonna hit him with a jab and then he's gonna duck and yeah I always did I always come out with these descriptions right I think I'm gonna like I said people look at him and it thinks it's a boxer but to me I think I had the best boxing in the division where we had this thing we call like Canello hands

we work outside of camp we're getting better with their hands and when people saw me fight Leon and I said I was gonna outstrike him they're like no you can't strike him I'm like watch me out boxing and we did that for Jack he only has one way to win, right? It's with striking, it's with boxing. So for me, I want to go out there and embarrass him with boxing. I want to go out there and outbox him and then make him want to grapple, make him have to do something that he can't do, that he's not

uncomfortable with. There's not a plan B for him. So once he gets there and he realizes that he's not good enough with the hands, not good enough with the striking, and he looks at his coaches and his coaches have nothing else to say to him, that's when the finish will come. That's when the breaking point will come for him. He's never fought anybody like me who's good everywhere he hasn't fought anybody like me that can go hard from the first round to the last round

and once he gets in there and he sees it and he feels it that's when they break that's when the pressure comes that's when the inexperience uh will hurt him how is your like relationship with the ufc evolved what was it like getting that belt on you do you remember that feeling yeah 100% right because it was the hardest thing it was the longest process for me to even get the title shot Yeah, you had the longest road, for sure. I was on a 7th fight winning street. Oh, well, all right, now here goes 15 and 0, Sean Brady. You're like, bro, okay, a fight winning street.

Oh, well, you still need one more. And then I was like, okay, well, here goes Gilbert Burn on three weeks notice. If you win this, for sure, you'll get it. And then you're like, well, all right, well, I got to say yes. And then you go out that you beat him. And then it was like, maybe you got to do one more. And you're like, bro, come on. What else do I got to do?

Like, what else do you need? Is there something you got against me? Is there this or that? But at the end of the day, they stuck to the word, right? They gave me the shot. It was, I think, the perfect moment for me because it was in Leon's country. We had a fight at 5 a.m. We had to go all the way out there.

The first time I fought him was in the apex. There was nobody there. It was short-noticed fight. So this time was the biggest stage. It was meant to happen like this. It was, I was the underdog. The morning of the fight was like a sense of relief, right? Because it was here.

We didn't have to wait no more. there was nothing else I think it was like the least stressed I ever felt before a fight and then once I got the belt after my own race it was more so like

we did it like they didn't believe in us they didn't think we could do it even after my Gilbert Burns fight I saw Dana in the back and he was like man they keep doubting you but you keep winning and then it was like that same feeling after this fight man nobody believed it

but you did it like and then we're going to keep doing that I think so it just makes me want to just keep showing them and keep proving them and keep proving them the daughters and the haters wrong so now like that your champ does the UFC kind of call you and just say like yo this is the fight or do you have any type of like back and forth that mean they'll ask me like how what my body feels like for me it was like being the champion now I was like let's do a quick turnaround when do you guys want it and then they

called me for the shop cop fight uh last December we had the infection so like messed up those plans um so with this one I was expecting it to be shopcott and then they were like well he's out um it was either between like jdm and buckley and then for me it was like i don't really care who it is which one it is just let me know the date and they gave me the date and then it was buckley then they were like well it's just gonna be jdm so for me i'm like all right i'm down so as long as i had the date the time uh as long as i had the right uh camp i'm good with it and then even with this fight i can be come out unscathed i'm ready to go again you think buckley's what do you think of him do you think he's a real deal or no i think he's a real deal

Like he's got a good street going He's trying to obviously Promote himself and talk his way up If he beats Usman I think that'll be the fight That fight's gonna have some hype on it Yeah, I think Because he's talking

He's already talking And they both can talk a little bit Yeah Yeah and he's like Yeah and he like even if he doesn't have any beef with you He's gonna like talk If you could talk about DC and make a

Have a beef with DC randomly I'm like bro DC's like the nice guy Yeah He said something stupid about him I don't know what he said Oh yeah DC's the best Yeah Buckley would say a lot of dumb stuff right I just don't think he's

He's good at promoting, promoting, but at least he's trying. So for me, I don't think the trashdolls is going to be good, just because Oussman's terrible by trash talk and Buckley's terrible at trash talk. But I think the fight will be entertaining. All right, well, yeah, bro, I don't want to hold you up too long. This is awesome. I know you got a busy schedule.

We're going to be there at the fight, Montreal. We're rooting for you. I know Salim's super pumped for this fight. He's fucking... He's going to be there. We're all going to be there. So I appreciate you, brother. Thank you, brother.

Well, Mahab and UFC 315. You know,