Belal Muhammad

“What's with this hugging? You're down in the fifth round. You've got to have the killer instinct,”

Belal Muhammad · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-18

Belal Muhammad criticized Ian Machado Garry's lack of killer instinct during his title fight at UFC 330.

“You go against Morales next. You get one-punched and get knocked out. That head kick that Islam landed on you in the second round, if it knocked you out, it changes everything else. You can't waste an opportunity. You can't waste a moment, and I felt like he definitely wasted moments there. The one sequence that I was like Islam has this fight – obviously when it came to the fifth round, and he took the back, I was like, 'Oh, it's over.' When he had the body triangle in, I knew he wasn't going to get out of that situation. For Islam, that was his checkmate moment.”

Belal Muhammad · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-18

Belal Muhammad warned about missed opportunities and broken momentum in title fights.

“You've got to for it. His face wasn't beat up. It was an Adesanya vs. Gastelum war where you're like, 'Let's do it.' You were losing. Mindset-wise, he needs to flip the switch. His mindset was we didn't get tapped, we got up from a couple of takedowns, those are wins for him, and he has to change that. Stock-wise, he's going to learn from it. He's going to get better from it, but this game is unforgiving.”

Belal Muhammad · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-18

Belal Muhammad discussed Ian Machado Garry's mindset and performance against Islam Makhachev.