Belal Muhammad’s UFC event predictions are more complex than you may think.
UFC welterweight has made a name for himself with his dominant and impressive performances in the cage, but also with some of his choices outside of competition. Muhammad (17-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) has gained great traction online with fans through his picks for UFC events.
Muhammad, who fights Sean Brady on Dec. 19 at UFC on ESPN+ 44, says the notoriety that has come with his fight predictions has a price.
“The hard part is when you get the fans nowadays,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie Radio. “I picked my teammate Gerald Meerschaert against Khamzat (Chimaev) and I probably had 500 DM’s from fans, Russian fans, Muslims saying, ‘Oh you’re a traitor. How are you not going to pick the Muslim? What’s wrong with you? We’re all Muslim brothers.
“I literally commented on Gerald’s post, ‘Lets go’. It was a post of him and Khamzat and fans replied saying, ‘You’re a traitor. How are you not going to pick the Muslim?’ And I was like, ‘Gerald is Muslim, what are you talking about?’ I then texted Gerald and said put ‘As-salamu alaykum’ in the comments and he did that.
“Then we had a couple guys message me asking if he’s really Muslim and I was like, ‘Why you gotta jump the gun? See, you guys sitting there, getting mad for no reason.’ It was the funniest thing in the world. It’s hilarious what people get mad about.”
It’s a tough world Muhammad has to navigate between not wrecking relationships with his fellow fighters, while also staying true to his fans. Muhammad has had fighters unfollow him after announcing his fight picks for a particular event.
“You see people really take it personal,” Muhammad said. “Picking a friend, I sit there thinking about two guys and I’m like, ‘Let me see if this guy follows me or if this guy actually comments on my Instagram.’ And I’ll just pick this guy cause I like him and we don’t have any communication with each other, but if you’re liking my stuff on social media, I’m going to pick this guy because he’s cool.
“Then (fans) they’re like, ‘What the heck is wrong with you? Did you look at this guy’s record? He’s going against this Russian wrestler and he’s going to take him down and murder him.’ I don’t take that stuff too personal, I don’t bet. Most of the time, I look at fights and pick who I actually think is going to win. But then, when I pick a friend, and I know they’re in a tough fight, I still pick them even though mentally I think they’re going to lose.
“Then I have 10 other fans messaging me, ‘Hey, you thinking this guy is really going to win? I don’t want to bet on this guy and you’re just picking him because he’s a friend. When it comes down to friends and people you know, it’s hard to pick against them because they’re going to look at your stuff. But since I’m just picking for fun and stuff, I don’t really care. I just pick them for loyalty reasons.”