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Sean Strickland and Belal Muhammad get into extremely personal spat, adding to their longstanding UFC feud

By Johny Payne

1 hours ago4 min read
Sean Strickland and Belal Muhammad have long lobbed criticism at each other
Sean Strickland (left) mocked Belal Muhammad (right), after which the Chicago native soon fired back. Zuffa LLC and UFC.com
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Reigning UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has taken aim at ex-welterweight kingpin Belal Muhammad. The latter soon hit back.

Sean Strickland has often made fellow UFC staple Belal Muhammad a target of his tirades.

The 35-year-old California-born fighter has now jibed at Muhammad over the supposed lack of fan interest in the latter's fighting and miscellaneous pursuits. 

Belal Muhammad gave his thoughts on UFC Baku; Sean Strickland's reply sparked a bitter online spat between them

The much-awaited UFC Baku event is set to transpire at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan, on June 27. The card is set to be headlined by a lightweight matchup between Rafael Fiziev and Manuel Torres. 

Also, the co-headlining fight is a middleweight showdown that pits striking savants Sharabutdin Magomedov and Michel Pereira against one another. 

Former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad took to X earlier today and put forth a post that comprised a link to his breakdown of the UFC Baku matchups. 

Soon thereafter, reigning UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland took to the replies section of the post and jabbed at Muhammad.

One ought to note that although the two veteran fighters have had a bitter rivalry for years, a potential MMA fight between them hasn't materialized yet. Strickland has long left the welterweight division, whereas Muhammad hasn't fought at middleweight. 

Well, Strickland alluded to the supposed lack of views on the welterweight combatant's aforementioned X post, writing: 

"Just came to laugh at the 3k views on this post..." He further wrote, "Crazy people dont want to watch you fight or talk..." 

Strickland has made similar insinuations in the past, suggesting that the fans consider Muhammad to be uninteresting, be it in his fighting or his talks/public assertions.

"Tarzan" and many other critics of Muhammad have, over the years, lambasted him for supposedly being unable to put on entertaining performances and finishes in his MMA fights. 

That said, Muhammad, an American fighter of Palestinian descent, holds the distinction of being the first-ever Arab UFC champion. The 37-year-old has also long been a vocal critic of Strickland.

Noticing the middleweight titleholder's aforementioned reply as well as another post on X, Muhammad appeared to reference the alleged abuse Strickland claims to have suffered at the hands of his father. 

Strickland berated Muhammad by pointing out that his post had accrued 9,000 views and that he could soon afford a ticket to Palestine. Strickland capped off another post with a smiley emoticon and wrote, "I just want him to fulfill his jihad fantasy." 

Responding to Strickland's views-related post, Muhammad hit back by writing, "Did you sw*llow 9k of your brothers and sisters when your dad..." 

Sean Strickland's past condemnation of Belal Muhammad, their respective next combat contests

The October 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel, perpetrated by Hamas and other Palestine-backed militant groups, sparked widespread geopolitical tensions. They elicited mixed reactions from both the Israeli and Palestinian sides as well as other concerned parties such as the United States of America. 

Sean Strickland and Belal Muhammad, both born and raised in the U.S., also made public statements on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the October 7 terrorist attacks. 

On one hand, Muhammad affirmed his support for Palestine in the wake of the terror incident. On the other hand, Strickland condemned Muhammad by indicating that his "Pray for Palestine" message didn't include a word of opposition against the terror attack on the Israeli community. 

An excerpt from Strickland's post from 2023 read: "Belal you were born in America, you live in America just shut the f**k up." 

Presently, Strickland is coming off a UFC middleweight title-winning split decision victory over Khamzat Chimaev in May. He's rehabilitating a shoulder injury and could defend his title in a rematch against Chimaev. 

As for Muhammad, he's on a three-fight losing streak and is coming off a unanimous decision defeat against Gabriel Bonfim, whom he fought earlier this month. "Remember the Name" is scheduled to take on ex-UFC welterweight Ben Askren in a cruiserweight freestyle wrestling match. They'll co-headline RAF 11 on July 18. 

 

Check out Strickland's October 2023 post regarding Muhammad's support for Palestine below: 

ABOUT THE AUTHORJohny PayneStaff Writer

Johny Payne is a combat sports journalist and Staff Writer at MMA Sucka.

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