MMA Fighting - Belal Muhammad Fires Back at Leon Edwards, Trashes ‘Pathetic’ Colby Covington After UFC 296

Episode Date: December 23, 2023

Belal Muhammad knows he’s the No. 1 contender in the UFC welterweight division but he’s still waiting on reigning champion Leon Edwards to acknowledge him as the next person in line for a shot at the title. Following an action-packed UFC 296, Muhammad sits down with MMA Fighting senior reporter Damon Martin to give his thoughts on fight week after he weighed in as the backup for the main event and what he thought about Edwards’ performance with a unanimous decision victory over Covington Muhammad will address Edwards’ post fight comments about him and his belief that the UFC will honor the promised made to him that he will get the next shot at the title. He also slams Covington for his “pathetic” remarks regarding Edwards’ father during the UFC 296 pre-fight press conference along with his abysmal showing in the title fight plus much more in this exclusive interview.   Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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As the number one contender, and make no mistake about it, he is the number one contender in the Welterweight Division. I got a lot to talk about with this guy right now. He just weighed in as the alternate for UFC 296, and by what actually unfolded on Saturday night, I think we all kind of wish he was in that fight. Always happy to speak to my good friend, Bilal Muhammad.

Below, how are you? Good, good, but, I mean, definitely could be better. I could have fought Saturday night. I could have had the belt on my shoulder right now. But in due time, it'll come. So let's start there. You get the call to be the backup. And I know before we talked about that,

you weren't really super interested in doing the backup thing. But obviously they call you. You're the guy who always answers your phone. You backed it up. You stepped in there. What was last week like for you? Like, because by all accounts, and let's not even talk about, like, what happened in the fight itself.

But, like, even before that, everyone said you should have been in there. You should have been in the title fight. Like, was it tough being there that week, like, knowing it should have been you fighting Leon Edwards? Or did you just kind of, like, roll with the punches? Honestly, it was tough because for me, I was like, regardless, like, I didn't want to be the backup. So I was, like, I was training no matter what.

I was like anything could happen and knowing my luck, it's one of these guys would pull out fight week. So, like, I was training full camp mode no matter what. And then they asked me to be to back up and I was like, do I want to make weight, but I'm like, you know what? Let's do it. I don't want to give any excuses or any reasons for them to be like, we offer yourself and you turn it down if something happened in Fight Week.

So I'm like, you know what? Let's make it. So I brought in my nutritionist, shout out to Ian Lerios. He came down from Bali. We did basically a full camp and Fight Week. it was weird emotionally because, you know, usually you have a goal in mind and you have a different mindset fight week. So I'm like, I don't know how I should be feeling fight week. And people are asking me, are you going to be so training like it was a real thing? Or are you still taking that as a real

fight camp? So I brought all my corners down. I brought my whole team down. We're doing everything normally like I would do fight week. We do to run through a lot of drills, a lot of game planning stuff. So we were still doing that. And then we made weight. And, After you make weight, you feel like, there's that like feeling of relief because you're like, oh, thank God, now I get the fight tomorrow. Because I'm always excited about the fight. The weight cuts were you depressed, that you're, you're, you're hangary and you're like, but then after the weight cut, it's like, yes, I get to fight tomorrow.

And I didn't have that feeling. Like I was sitting there. I was like, man, everybody was getting sick by week. You saw even Gary get sick. You saw Randy Brown get sick. And I was like, come on. Why can that be one of the guys in the main event? Give me Kobe Covenson with the flu or something.

And the call never came, so I was like, whatever. Everything happens for a reason. Now I'll get a full, basically a full buildup to my title fight. Yeah. Before we get to Saturday night, I got to ask you about this blow out because I've always complimented you on being one of the funnier guys on social media, like when you take a quick shot at Connor McGregor or whatever. But you are, obviously, you're a pretty stand-up guy.

Like, you don't take low blows. That's just never who you've been. you've never gone that round. And we all have our opinion on Colby Covington. And I know you have an opinion on Leon Edwards. We're going to talk about him in the second. But you were there that week and you saw the comments that Colby made towards Leon. I said it was abhorrent.

It was one of the worst things I've ever heard. And I think the narrative on Colby started to turn in that moment where like even the most hardcore Colby backers were like, yeah, that was wrong. Can I just ask for your reaction to that? Because you've always, even when you've been in the nastiest, you know, whatever rival reason of your career and going back and forth, you've never gone to that level. And even when Dana White says, like, I was uncomfortable with that, you know it's bad because Dana doesn't censor anybody.

Can I ask your reaction when you heard that? Because, again, I know you're not the biggest Leon Edwards fan, but even in that moment, I was like, no one should do that. Yeah, honestly, it was pathetic. It was, like, it shows you what his real character is. And people were like, oh, well, he's playing a role. He's just that, like, when you go that low, that's not playing a role. That's what you have truly inside of you.

That's your souless. You're really a disgusting person, disgusting human being true to the core. And I think for him to do that, he had to do that because he wasn't reaching Leon with any of his normal trash talk. He wasn't affecting him in any way. And so he was like, I have to level up, right? Like I said, he probably has a writer who does research and was probably like, oh, maybe if we're going to get low, low, let's do this one right here. This one will get him. And, you know, he thought that would strike him emotionally.

It did probably, but he thought it would affect him in the fight. I don't think it really affected him in a fight like he thought he was. You probably thought Leon would run out real quick and try to go crazy from the start. But yeah, just the fact that you're doing that, saying that's pathetic. And like people tell me, start talking trash more, start doing this more, be like him. And I'm just like, I'm never going to sell my soul, right? Because at the end of the day, when I have kids, when I have family, they're going to look, or even the youngest fans that are looking up to me.

And I want them to think that you have to do that. you have to be that type of character to get far in the game. You have to be that type of character to get a title shot. Now that he went that far and he still lost the title fight and he's going three in title fights, it tells you that playing the bad guy doesn't get you the gold. Absolutely. Absolutely. To that point, you go out there on Saturday night and you have that kind of performance.

You know, listen, no one, if you wanted to justify Colby Covington getting a title shot, it was based solely upon. he likes to talk trash and he's a name. And I don't think anyone's going to deny he's got a name. Like people do pay attention when he fights. Okay, let's just leave it there. He got it. But then you go out and have that kind of performance.

And you don't really do anything for four rounds. And then the fifth round, you get a takedown, mostly because Leon's biggest mistake was he kept trying to grapple with Colby and he basically just ended up on his back. And that was really it. He just spent two and a half minutes on his back. Nothing really happened. And Colby didn't do any damage.

He just based on the scoring criteria because he was on top of him for two and a half minutes, he won the round. Like, was that, like, because this was it for Colby Covington. Like, I don't think anyone, like, when Dana says you're slow and old afterwards, you're probably not getting another title shot. And I think we all agree. Colby, the fact that he called out Wonderboy tells you already he's not ready to fight the Shavcats of the world, the Gilbert Burns is of the world, the Bilal Mohammeds of the world to go get another title shot. Because you called him out many, many times of this last two years.

and he never answered. How bad is it to have that kind of performance after everything? Like, you did not earn this shot. No one is telling you. No one said you deserved this shot. And then you go out and have that kind of performance. Yeah, it looked terrible. Honestly, it was one of those things where I've said it from the beginning that Kobe would

be my easiest matchup in the top 10. I knew what his style was in the way to beat him. And Leon just did a good job of putting him on his back foot, making him uncomfortable. And Kobe, his striking, I always said, was amateurish. And he never, even in that fight, every punch he landed, none of it hurt. The punches that he was throwing was like cardio kickboxing punches. And Leon would just wait for it and then counteroff it right away.

Then once he started countering off it, Kobe, we got afraid. And there was no pressure from Kobe. There wasn't the same relentless wrestling that he always did because I don't think Leon gave a chance to. Leon is very good at using his distance. But I think Leon's mistake in that whole time was realized, and you go, okay, Kobe took me out once I popped right back up. She took me down again, I pop right back up.

So there was nothing to fear from Kobe's end. And Leon should have went for the kill more instead of just playing that outside role or playing the let me wrestle with you role. And it was just like very low, low IQ stuff from Leon. Yeah, that was the one, like I said, I think the biggest mistake I saw is he kept, like he would escape a takedown attempt and he would continue to grapple. And it's like, again, I'm not, you know, it's not, I'm not sitting there trying to criticize the performance, but, like, you were beating him up.

Like, look at Colby's leg. His leg was bruised up and beat up. He was clearly Kobe couldn't stand with him. Like, we all kind of knew that anyways, but he couldn't stand with him. And it was almost like he was trying to prove a point. But that's actually kind of how he let Colby win a couple of exchanges because he kept trying to grapple with him. Yeah, I mean, I was looking at it like, bro, this guy is fighting pretty dumb.

And going at a couple of those exchanges where he was trying to rush a submission or go to the back and he caught himself up and I was like, oh, man, like, if he made those mistakes with me, it would be over. Like, I wouldn't let him get away with those mistakes. Same way Kobe let him get away to the mistakes. And even with for Leon, like, a lot of it was the whole first round, neither one of them really did anything. Leon just did a good job of keep it on the outside and feigning and losing his distance. So there wasn't really much going on in the first round, second round. Kind of like same thing. A couple low kicks here and there. And then Leon looked tired in the fourth round. I'm like, bro, you really didn't do nothing, but your dad

tired right now. I'm like, If you're going to go against a guy like me who's going to be in your face 24-7, I'm not going to give you a chance to breathe. It's going to be a rough night at the office for you if your cardio is looking like that. Yeah, it was a weird one. And obviously, listen, at the end of the day, I don't think anyone's going to sit here and say that was the greatest fight in the world. And I do give Leon credit for fighting through the emotions because, again, you know,

you could see he kind of teared up afterwards. And I get it, man. That's such a horrible, awful thing to have said about you with your dad, the way what happened. So maybe that was part of it. maybe he just didn't want to, like, allow himself to go, like, full rage and, like, just want to just knock out Kobe Covington. But it wasn't a great fight. I don't think anyone's going to tell you it was.

Yeah, I mean, he got the job done, right? I think once you get to the title fights, you see it with some champions where they realize, hey, all we got to do is just win, just win. And I think him doing that to Ushman in the third fight where he realized, all right, I'm good at distance, I'm good at figuring it out from here. And staying at this point and staying safe at this and winning. fights this way. He needs a guy that's going to be in his face. He needs a guy that's going to do what Usman did to him the second fight and make him fight, push him to that point. Kobe, you're

letting him play that point sparring game, the pretty striking game, and Leon's a pretty striker. I'm going to make it a dirty striking game. I'm going to make it a grueling game, a dog fight, and that's what's going to make him have to fight. That's going to make him have to push. That's going to make him have to really see test where his heart really is. Yeah, absolutely. I get to Leon in one second, I do want to ask you, with this loss for Colby Covington and then afterwards what happened where, like, the whole crowd was booing him. Like, they just were like done with him as well. Like when he kept doing the Trump stuff and then he lost it at the end, like when he literally told the crowd the F off. Like you could tell he finally lost it. Have we seen the last of Colby Covington as a title contender in your opinion? Because I believe we have. I believe, you know, him calling out Wonderboy and not Chavkat. And like, I think the writing's on the wall now. Like, I think. The ceiling has been reached for Colby Covington.

That's my opinion. What do you think? Yeah, I for sure think he's done with. There's really nothing else left for him. And if I'm Wonderboy, there's way better fights out there for him, especially now that Michael Venom Payton is in the UFC now. Like, he's going to go against a striker. It's the way that he lost that fight.

I think Wonderboy's only finding strikers from now on. Kobe's looking for that fight, somebody that he could wrestle, try to get a win so he could get another might time. But the game's over with. People realize that you're not going to fight one of these really good top 10 guys. And any of the top 10 guys, I think, will beat him right now. So he's going to try to pick his choose his next opponent. Maybe he'll go out at 55.

Maybe he'll try to call out of Dustin Porier pick at that. But his title rain days are over us. Yeah. So now Leon Edwards afterwards, and again, to be clear, I interviewed Leon before the fight. And I said, look, you know, I know your focus is Colby Covington, but, you know, Bilal Muhammad is the guy. We all agree on that. And he kind of downplayed at the time.

But I even said, like I pushed back. And I said, but you understand, if he's the guy, you will fight him. And he said, yes, I will take that fight. I said, okay, I want to make sure to get that on the record that you will fight. Afterwards, now listen, as the champion, your job is to fight the number one contender. That is the job of a champion. Generally, champions don't call out contenders because you're the champion. You're the guy with the target on your back.

The one thing I didn't like what Leon Edwards said after the fight was, once again, downplaying you as the number one contender because everyone agrees you are the number one contender. And three years ago, you were Leon Edward. Leon Edwards was you. He was the guy on like a 12-fight win streak. No one would give him a shot. You know, he was, you know, all these other things were happening. And he was the guy getting kind of passed over on this long winning streak

and people wouldn't give him the shot. Does that, I guess, of this whole thing, is that kind of what bugs you most is because Leon was in your situation. He was absolutely in your situation saying, I deserve to be the tight. And we all agreed. He was on a huge win streak. Now you're there. and he's like he doesn't deserve it.

I don't get that. Honestly, that's what pisses me off the most about him. And that's what's making me dislike him the most is not even the fact that we fought and he's the one who committed the file. He's the one who I poked me. I'm the one who took the fight on three-each notice so he could have a fight and you're the one who committed that act. I don't really care about that anymore.

Now we're looking at just stats. Like, I'm on a 10-fight on being streak. You were at a 10-fight on-beating streak. when you were waiting for your title shot and everybody who's brushing you off and you're, you know how it feels like to get brushed off like that. But even worse than that is the guys that I'm beating. When you're on that streak, you're beating RDA. You're beating Donald Seroni.

You're beating Gunner Nelson, guys that aren't in the top five. I have four top five wins. I have wins over some of the best fighters in the world. Damien Maya, one of the best grapplers in a world. Wonderboy, one of the best strikers in a world. Luque, one of the best finisher. Sean Brady, who that win just. double than effect now that he just dominated Calvin Gaslim.

I'm dominating top guys that were on the winstreaks when I beat them. And you're acting like it ain't nothing. And the fact that he said is he's not going to skip the line. I'm sitting there looking at this guy like, bro, is this guy in the airhead? Like, I truly believe, is this guy like, is he playing dumb or is he dumb? Because I'm not skipping the line. There's no line that I skipped. I took the stairs the whole way here.

There was no elevator that I got to this top. I had to claw my way to where I am right now. I had to, you know, beg for the biggest fights. I had to fight for the biggest fights. I had to fight Gilbert Burns on three weeks notice. There was nothing given to me. I had to earn everything I got. And I had to go the long way to get here.

So the fact that you're trying to downplay me, the fact that you're trying to disrespect my resume, that's what makes me the most angry about it. Can I ask Below because, listen, we understand that sometimes this becomes a popularity contest, which I totally don't agree with. But we understand sometimes that's what the sport is. But do you feel over these last few days,

that the narrative has started to turn for you, because it feels like everybody says you are the number one contender. Everybody. Like, I think even Shav Katarach Mano said Bilal was number. Like, the guy who would be, like, potentially your biggest challenge to the title,

even he is saying it. Like, do you feel like, and after Colby's performance, like, again, we all agree, you should have been in there Saturday night, regardless of what Colby, whatever,

you should have been in there before Colby's performance? But do you feel like the narratives have shifted in a weird way, the way this all played out that everybody believes you are the number one contender that you should get to tell. Like in a weird way, has this played out in your favor? Because there's not a person on earth right now outside of Leon Edwards who is saying you're not the number one contender. Like that's the entire world is saying this. Yeah, honestly, like it feels good when you had the respect of your fellow peers and, you know, fighters and people that really are saying, all right, you know, blouse necks.

Even Schofcott said it. And even, you know, even though he wants. I beat Wonderboy. I beat Wonderboy as well. Like, I beat Wonder Boy two years ago. So, like, and I'm not ever trying to downplay anybody.

Chuck got a monster. He's a beast. And I think, you know, he's getting ankle surgery. So let me and Leon Edwards fight. He'll be next in the line. Like,

there's a, I'm not going to, I'm not going to be one of those guys, like Leon Edwards, where I fight him and, no, let me, let me fight one of the guys at 55. Like,

I want to be, I want to leave a legacy where I fought the best guys at 170. I want to leave a legacy where I beat in all the best guys at 170. and be considered the best welter way to ever do it. And to do that, I have to be all these top guys, everybody who they think could beat me.

And, you know, when I'm sitting here being unbiased and I'm looking at everything, I'm like, bro, there's nobody with a resume like mine that's never been giving a title shot. Even with people who say, you know, Tony Ferguson, he had a long win street, never fought for a title. He got offered his fight. He got offered a couple of title fights and, you know,

bad circumstances, injuries, stuff like that, he had to pull out. There's nobody like me who has five top 10 wins who's been who weighed in as backup the same way Kobe Covington went in as backup. And they said he's next because he went in his backup. There's, I'm doing everything that I need to do. I'm doing everything that needs to be done to, you know, submit myself as being next. The only thing is just getting my shot. And like you said, popular concerts or not, it's give me the promotion.

Give me the little pushback. and I'll show you what I'm capable of. Leon Edwards doesn't promote himself. He really didn't even promote this fight. Him and Kobe coming to there was really nothing that happened until the press conference when Kobe got dirty. And I think that's why Kobe got dirty because there was no back and forth on Twitter or social media.

And when I look at other champions like Edezania or a Bokonovsky, they were always picking their next fight before this fight, right after the fight ended. Like Adesania would call in Duplessis in the cage or get in the face of Sean Strickland at a fight, knowing that, all right, I need to build this. itself. Leon doesn't do that at all. And that's the hard part about Leon. He just doesn't understand self-promotion or promoting the division at all. I'm like, bro, do you like money? Do you

understand that promotion leads to more money, bigger pay reviews, that type of thing. He doesn't do none of that at all. And it just doesn't make any sense for me. So I have to do it myself, but it's like you're talking to yourself when you're the only one pushing for something. And this guy just, I don't know, I don't know who's next to a, I'll see, I'll see what's up. Yeah, well listen, we all know you're next. Now, I know the answer to this question, I'm going to ask it anyways, because timing-wise, you know,

Leon didn't take any damage because Colby didn't do anything in that fight. It was a five-round sparring match for Leon Edwards, more or less, because Colby didn't do anything. Obviously, again, he did have a training camp, so he gave him a little break. The holidays are coming up, all those kind of things. Okay, fine.

We know the fights are booked through March. So we're looking at April U.S.C. 300, and then I know Dana mentioned the ideal scenario would be Leon maybe fighting back in the UK. You were going to fight Hamza in the UK. We had that whole conversation a while back. Can I assume whether it's UFC 300 or even traveling to the United Kingdom

to get your title shot, you are fine with whatever that scenario would be? I'm perfectly fine wherever it is in a backyard. If it's anywhere, I just want my shot. I want my moment. And I like to go to Birmingham or go to London and beat him down there on his soil, it would just make the storybook ending to everything, right? The road that I had to take, the length I had to go,

and to go into enemy territory and dominate Leon Edwards like I think I will. It'll be just like it was meant to be from the start. I know we had this conversation like days after the first fight with Leon Edwards, when you had like, you know, you're wearing sunglasses because your eye was all messed up. And we said, you know, at that point, let's run it back. You know, you didn't have a full training camp, short notice. It went a round and a half, and it was unfinished business. And we talked right then and said, let's just do it again.

Now, it didn't happen. And then you went on this incredible tear where you've just been taking out top 10 guys left and right. And you are now clearly the number one contender. But I'm kind of curious, now that you're on this run, the confidence is better. You're a better fighter. How do you feel like a fight with Leon Edwards would go? because you didn't really get a chance to fight him the first time around, and that was, again, on super short notice.

And then you've been on this run now where you've not just been beating people. You've been dominating. You knocked out Sean Brady. We just saw how good Sean Brady is for any question. I know you saw my tweet when I said that. You dominated Gilbert Burns. You dominated Wonder Boy. You did the Wonder Boy long before what other guys were doing to Wonder Boy.

You went out there. Even Gilbert Burns didn't do that to Wonder Boy. You did it and beat him up over three rounds. How confident in what kind of a fight do you believe? it would be with Leon Edwards in a five-round title fight. Honestly, I think it'll really wake people up to see how good I am. That's the fight. I think I go under and watching them this weekend and watching how much I've grown

since that first fight, the different styles, because I've leveled up so much. Fighting a guy like Maya right after that, I leveled up my grappling. Fighting a guy like Luque right after that, I leveled up my striking. Wonderboy leveled up my striking. Fighting a guy like Sean Brady, I leveled up my mentality. I fight at Gilbert Burns on three weeks notice, fighting the level of my mentality. Like the level I'm at is 10 times further from that day

than where Leon grew from there because who did Leon fight? Nate Diaz, then he fought Kamara Usman twice, then he fought Kobe Coventon. There wasn't a lot of heaven to level up in any of his fights. For me, I think that if me and Leon were to fight, if we were the fight last Saturday or the weekend it just happened,

I would have went in there and I would have dominated them and I would finish him. And for us, when our fight does happen right now, now, I think I'm going to go in there. I'm going to dominate it. I'm going to finish him. I think I'm the most dominant welterweight in the division. And I think that once I get my shot, the world, everybody, the UFC, Dana White, all of them, you're going to know that they had the most dominant welterweight to ever do it, standing underneath them this whole time. And they're going to realize, yo, we got to start pushing this guy. His guy is a monster. He's a beast.

Because people look back at my camps with Habib and them. And what happened after that camp? I dominated Sean Brady. And I finished them. And I was telling people like, bro, that was a full camp. I dominated him. And Gilbert Burns, I rocked them two times in the first round, almost finished him in the first round. And that was with a couple of jabs. I'm like, I'm only getting better.

I'm only growing every single fight, every single camp. Now you're going to give me a full 12, 14 weeks to fight Leon Edwards. It's going to be the worst night of his life. I know this is a very dangerous question to ask because we always know how weird this sport could be. But in all honesty, you know, know you have, you know, you've always had a pretty positive relationship with Dana White. And Dana White, you know, when you fought Gilbert Burns, you took that fight, you helped save

that card when they needed a co-main event. And Dana White said afterwards, you know, you're getting your title shot. You know, at that point, he'd already declare Colby, so it is what it is. In the back of your mind right now, we can have all this conversation about what Leon wants, what Leon said. Really, it doesn't matter because the UFC's going to make that decision. And I said this, again, just to be clear, you can go watch the interview. When I talked to Leon beforehand, I said, do you FC tells you're fighting Bilal Muhammad?

You're going to take that fight, right? and he said yes. In your heart or hearts, do you believe the UFC will do right by you and give you this title shots? Yeah, I do for sure. I think, you know, Dana White's the man of his word.

And for me, when I took that goal with Burns fight, it was a lot of thinking they went into it, right? It was a lot of convincing because I was like, bro, I got to make weight during Ramadan. It's hard. I'm coming off the couch

and I'm putting my nine-fight winning streak on the line to fight a guy that just went into a fight against Masbidaw, dominated him. He's coming off of camp. He's in shape. He's in shape. He's scary fighter. And I got to go in there on three-ish notice and put this five-year streak on a line. And if I lose, I'm going to be at the back of the line, for sure. And I did all that just because all they had to tell me was, you're next. You beat him. You're next.

And, you know, they told me that I would be next after Kobe, no matter what. So it was not like one of those where people were like, oh, I thought they said you were next. It was, no, they told me after Kobe no matter what. So now it's after Kobe. And, yeah, I mean, I trust the UFC. I trust Dana White. I don't think they, they would do be bogus in any way and just waiting for a date honestly yeah i have to imagine it's got to be april or may right like i don't know i haven't look i didn't look before we talked about the i because you've i know we did the interview before about like you fight you were one of the guys who understood why certain fighters didn't fight during Ramadan you respected when it could be

even guys but you were a guy who did it like you welcomed it you didn't have a problem with that but in terms of timing would april or may be the perfect timeline just because we know through march is booked up they're probably not going to put anyone else on those cards. UFC 300 is April. UFC 301 in May. And I'm just guessing, like, maybe that could be the UK card, because obviously Tom Aspinall is out there. Patty Pimblit is out there. I know he said he didn't want to fight the UFC 300 because he's got kids coming. Understandable. I don't know. You tell me, like, is April May the perfect time? Would that be the ideal

scenario? Yeah, honestly, April May would be perfect. Like, for me, I was just at the gym back in the morning today. So, like, I'm just, I'm a gym body. I'm addicted to it. I'm a their training, they're getting better. And now it's just whatever they tell me, I'm going to pack my bags. I'm ready to go. My mouthpiece is packed. My cup's always packed. So like if they tell me, yo, hey, we need a pay-per-view in January because John Strickland pulled

out and these guys need a pay-per-view. I'm ready to go. I'm pretty sure Leon Edwards has no injuries. And he's going to sit there and he's going to try to come up with juices and this and this and drag this long, drag this out as far as long as possible. but, invest you got to fight. Well,

and I know what Leon said, and like I said, when I talk to him, and I believe, listen, I truly do believe if they said, listen,

Bala's the guy, you're going to fight. I think he'll accept it, don't you? Like, ultimately, if they say, hey, you got to fight Balao,

like, I think he will. I think he will take the fight. Yeah, I mean, hopefully, man, that's just, for me,

it's like, I've been, like, I've been, like, I've been, for them just to, like, give me the call

and give me a contract Like, I feel like I would just cry just to get a title fight. So it's like, I've been waiting for this day so long. It's like, man, when is that ever going to come? So it's just trying to stay positive now and trying to stay, you know, hoping that we finally get, we hopefully get this deal done sooner rather than later. Well, I think you're the guy. I think we all know you're the guy, Bilau at this point.

Like I said, you should have been fighting last Saturday. It is what it is. We can't rewrite history. It's already said and done, especially based on Colby's performance. I think we would have much rather see you in there. but like I said you are next we all know you're next and I think the world is saying you're next like anyone that disagree before has turned around so I said if you want to take a positive away from this anyone who is naysaying or or trying to degrade your performance you know degrade you as the number one contender they're no longer saying that everyone knows you're the number one contender I think the entire world is screaming for belal Muhammad to get a title shot at this point yeah man I appreciate everybody that's hopping on a train finally but uh yeah man I just can't wait for you Last thing before I get you out of here, we did a lot of articles over the years. And I know we did one years ago when you were going to fight Abu Dhabi how close it was to home, your family, your roots in Palestine.

Can I just ask, I know obviously you got family friends. How is everything? I know this has been a big topic discussion for you on social media, not trying to stir up any controversy here. I'm not trying to get you in trouble. But obviously you are Palestinian, your family's from Palestine. Can I ask like how is everybody? How is everybody doing? This is such a just a horrible time what's going on in the world right now.

Can I just ask on a personal level? Like, how are you and your family, friends, people you know from that part of the world? Nah, man, I appreciate you, brother. Yeah, it's hard, man. It's every day you're waking up and you're hoping and you're praying that there's some, you know, a ceasefire or some light or something. And it's just the worst things every single day. Kids are dying. every single day families are dying.

People don't understand what's really going on there. And the only way to show the world is through social media and to explain it to them. And I love it because I'm actually getting fighters and stuff asking me every time they see me about it or messaging me about it because you have to educate people. And people need to learn more about what's really happening there and understanding that it's been going on for 75 years. but it's it's also heart-shattering because like I feel I feel guilty every day that I'm not a lot like yeah I mean honestly living living into my life where I could sit there and I could drink water anytime I want eat food anytime I want go out smile laugh and it's knowing that my people are over there dying every day they're they don't know where their next meal is going to come from they don't know if they're going to get bombed tomorrow um and it's just, it's hard. It's, it's really hard. Because I do got family there.

I do got friends there. And it's, when you see them and you lose contact with them and it's, it'd be like, oh, man, I haven't talked to them in 24 hours. And it's like, man, did they die or not die? Then all of a sudden, no, we didn't have a charge. We had a charge our phone with a car battery. And it's people really don't realize how, like, privilege we are every single day and how grateful you should be.

because there's a lot of suffering going on in the world, man, and just keep praying for the people in Palestine. Yeah, so, yeah, like I said, you know, and obviously I know how important that is for you, so I wanted to make sure you give you a chance to say that. If I'm not mistaken, because I know we did an article about it a few years ago when you fought in Abu Dhabi, it was a big point for you to be able to carry the Palestinian flag out there.

Can I imagine now that Dana has allowed flags back in, how excited will you be to walk to your title fight with the Palestinian flag? honestly, it'll probably want to be the greatest moments of my life because I know how much it will uplift

the people over there, the people around the world to see me carry that and to have a title belt with that flag. That moment will be the honestly, it'll be,

tell me how everything I've gone through all the ups and downs I went through, it would be worth it just to do that, just to be able to show the road that flag

and to have a world champion with that flag Iran. That's amazing. Well, in all sincerity, Bala, please, you know, my heart goes out to your friends and family.

I know how important that part of the world is for you. Obviously, you've got Palestinian roots. Your family's from there. So seriously, my heart goes out, man. It's just heartbreaking what's going on over there. And, you know, hopefully you keep a good spirit through the holidays and everything happened over there. And hopefully, next time we talk,

it's once the title fight is official. We have a date, a location, and we can just start breaking down how you're going to fight Leon Edwards. So thank you, as always, for the time. The number one contender, can't wait for that title fight. Have a good holiday. And, again, hopefully next time we speak is when you got that contract in hand

and you got the title fight official. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you, man. Happy holidays. You as well. We'll talk soon, okay? All right, brother. Bye-bye.

To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.