{"id":5779,"date":"2025-04-25T21:18:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T20:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=5779"},"modified":"2025-04-25T21:37:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T20:37:04","slug":"belal-muhammad-challenges-khamzat-chimaev-i-know-how-to-beat-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/belal-muhammad-challenges-khamzat-chimaev-i-know-how-to-beat-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Belal Muhammad Challenges Khamzat Chimaev: &#8220;I Know How to Beat Him&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"154\" data-end=\"399\">As anticipation builds among MMA fans, UFC Welterweight Champion Belal Muhammad has voiced his strong desire to face the undefeated Chechen star Khamzat Chimaev, confidently stating that he knows exactly how to hand \u201cBorz\u201d his first career loss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"401\" data-end=\"815\">Though Chimaev has moved up to Middleweight\u2014recently climbing to the #3 spot after his dominant first-round win over Robert Whittaker\u2014Belal Muhammad is still determined to make that long-awaited fight happen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"401\" data-end=\"815\">In a recent interview with <em data-start=\"639\" data-end=\"657\">Submission Radio<\/em>, he said:<br data-start=\"667\" data-end=\"670\" \/><em data-start=\"670\" data-end=\"815\">&#8220;I reached out to Khamzat back when he was at 170 lbs. It\u2019s one of those fights I\u2019ve always wanted. I\u2019m always chasing the toughest challenge.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_91162\"  width=\"696\" height=\"391\"  data-origwidth=\"696\" data-origheight=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ebOzZnMjDbQ?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"817\" data-end=\"838\"><strong data-start=\"817\" data-end=\"838\">A Clash of Styles<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"840\" data-end=\"1231\">Known for his high fight IQ and relentless pressure, Belal believes that stylistically, he holds a significant advantage over Chimaev, who boasts a flawless record of 14 wins, including 8 in the UFC.<br data-start=\"1039\" data-end=\"1042\" \/><em data-start=\"1042\" data-end=\"1217\">&#8220;Khamzat is extremely dangerous in the first round, comes out like a rocket. But for me, the real fight starts in the later rounds. If I can take him there, I can beat him,&#8221;<\/em> Belal stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1233\" data-end=\"1249\"><strong data-start=\"1233\" data-end=\"1249\">What\u2019s Next?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1251\" data-end=\"1518\">Originally scheduled to face UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis, Chimaev\u2019s plans were disrupted when the South African withdrew due to injury. As a result, a potential interim title fight against the #6-ranked Brazilian Caio Borralho is now being considered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1520\" data-end=\"1681\">Meanwhile, Belal Muhammad is preparing to defend his welterweight title against rising contender Jack Della Maddalena on May 10 at <em data-start=\"1651\" data-end=\"1660\">UFC 315<\/em> in Montreal, Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1683\" data-end=\"1893\"><strong data-start=\"1683\" data-end=\"1717\">Will Belal vs. Khamzat Happen?<\/strong><br data-start=\"1717\" data-end=\"1720\" \/>Only time will tell whether this dream matchup becomes a reality. But one thing is certain: Belal Muhammad is ready\u2014and he believes he\u2019s the man to break the Chimaev streak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As anticipation builds among MMA fans, UFC Welterweight Champion Belal Muhammad has voiced his strong desire to face the undefeated Chechen star Khamzat Chimaev, confidently stating that he knows exactly how to hand \u201cBorz\u201d his first career loss. Though Chimaev has moved up to Middleweight\u2014recently climbing to the #3 spot after his dominant first-round win [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,86,21,91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"category-mma-video","9":"category-ufc-news","10":"category-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5781,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5779\/revisions\/5781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}