'He's the definition of determination'… UFC legend heaps praise on Belal Muhammad after landing upset world title win
08/03/2024 10:38 AM
Legendary former UFC champion Tyron Woodley was delighted to see a new king of welterweight in Belal Muhammad.
The ex-welterweight title holder was similarly underrated in his time, and defended his belt four times between 2016 and 2019 before Kamaru Usman dethroned him. Since then, Leon Edwards has beaten Usman, before Muhammad won the belt at UFC 304 last month.
And Woodley, who trained with Muhammad for a period at Roufusport for a time, has already spoken with the new champion about his experience after winning the belt.
Tyron Woodley details private conversation with Belal Muhammad after world title win
As a former UFC welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley is one of a very select few men who understand exactly what the new title holder is going through. He quickly made contact, and the pair had a private conversation about the ups and downs that come with the belt.
“I talked to Belal the other day,” Woodley told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat following the PFL playoffs in Nashville last night. “I told him I’m proud of him and congratulations, you know he was my training partner for a while at Roufusport.
“He’s just the definition of determination, he may not be super fast, super strong, crazy striking. But what he does have is consistency and he’s disciplined. I remember he was going through Ramadan and he never broke fast, never took a sip of water. He was driving from Chicago [to Milwaukee].
“He fought a couple fights like that, look at any time he fought in April, he was fasting. So I just respected his discipline. I asked him ‘how did it feel when you won the strap? Did it feel how you thought it was going to feel?’
“He kind of said that he didn’t know and it was still sinking in. I’m always curious to find out but I just told him to keep training and stay hungry and keep getting better in between fights.
“Sometimes you see when a fighter is making that money and wants to get away from it, you can’t jump back into it. Shout out to Belal!”
Tyron Woodley dismisses comparisons between he and Belal Muhammad’s title reigns
However, Woodley dismissed suggestions that there are many similarities between his reign and Belal Muhammad’s. He noted that issues behind the scenes when he was champion were unlike anything any fighter has experienced before or since.
“He’s not in the same position I was in because nobody has been in the position I was in,” Woodley joked. “I had the realest reign because I won the title with all of the obstacles behind the scenes that nobody ever heard of.
“Maybe nobody will ever hear about it because I pride myself on doing it but not just that, also doing it without telling people what’s going on behind the scenes.”
