Belal Muhammad is all set to take on Leon Edwards for his maiden shot at the 170-pound title at UFC 304 later this year. However, the 35-year-old holds a trump card as he has been training with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev in preparation for the fight. Recently, Muhammad shared his experience training with the duo and drew comparisons with NBA greats Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
The 35-year-old recently sat down for an interview with MMA Junkie, during which he shared his thoughts on the upcoming fight and the experience of training with the likes of Nurmagomedov and Makhachev. To explain how privileged he is to be able to train with the two men, Bilal used a basketball analogy that fans will better understand. He said,
“One day training with Khabib is worth 100 days training with anybody else. The knowledge, just the energy you get from them guys, it’s priceless. … I’m training with the Michael Jordan of the sport in Khabib, and Islam is basically like the LeBron James of the sport.”
Six-time NBA winner Michael Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time. Knocking on the door for that title is LeBron James who is arguably the greatest player of his generation. According to Muhammad, the baton of greatness has been passed on from Nurmagomedov to Makhachev.
Well, the 35-year-old will be aiming to follow in the footsteps of his “brothers” Makhachev and Nurmagomedov as he takes on Leon Edwards in a few weeks.
Belal Muhammad promises to dethrone ‘coward’ Leon Edwards
There is a lot of bad blood between Edwards and Muhammad chiefly because of how their first fight ended. Both men felt they were doing well before the unfortunate eye poke forced the referee to call an end to the fight.
Ever since becoming a champion, Belal Muhammad alleges that Edwards stalls in his fights a lot. He also revealed in an interview how Edwards took multiple weeks to finalize his fight with Covington and then tried to do the same with him. All this whilst boasting about being a champion for 300 days.
According to Muhammad that does not mean anything as Edwards has not been an active champion. Instead, Muhammad referenced the likes of Kamau Usman, Israel Adesanya, and Alexander Volkanovski as champions whose footsteps he would like to follow once he dethrones Leon Edwards at UFC 304.