Belal Muhammad | Ep. 156

Summary

Full Send Podcast Summary: Bilal Muhammad | Ep. 156

Released on May 6, 2025, by Shots Podcast Network, the Full Send Podcast, sponsored by Happy Dad Hard Seltzer, features Bilal Muhammad, the UFC Welterweight Champion, in Episode 156. Hosted by Kyle Forgeard and Bob Menery, this episode delves deep into Bilal's journey in mixed martial arts (MMA), his upcoming fight at UFC 315 in Montreal, his training regimen, relationships within the UFC, and his aspirations for the future.

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1. Introduction and Pre-Fight Preparation

Hosts: Kyle Forgeard and Bob Menery kick off the episode with enthusiasm about UFC 315, highlighting Bilal Muhammad as the main guest.

Notable Quote:

• [01:00] Bob Menery: "We got a great episode today ahead of UFC 315. This Week in Montreal, we got Bilal Muhammad on the podcast."

2. Bilal Muhammad’s MMA Journey

Bilal shares his humble beginnings in MMA, starting later than many fighters at age 23. His transition from aspiring lawyer to professional fighter was influenced by reconnecting with his high school wrestling coach, Lewis Taylor. Bilal's determination led him to compete professionally after just three amateur fights, quickly amassing a 9-0 record and securing a Titan FC belt before joining the UFC.

Notable Quotes:

• [17:08] Bilal Muhammad: "I was hooked. I have like an addictive personality. I just went all in with it."
• [18:45] Bilal Muhammad: "They called me. It was like, during Ramadan... I was 1 and 2 in the UFC. I don't like it. They were gonna cut me."

3. Overcoming Early UFC Challenges

Bilal discusses his initial struggles in the UFC, including his first two losses. These experiences were pivotal, leading him to overhaul his training approach by seeking new training partners and adopting a more structured, strategic regimen. Training with elite fighters like Anthony Pettis at Rufus Sport in Milwaukee significantly enhanced his skills and preparation.

Notable Quotes:

• [20:39] Bilal Muhammad: "I need to find other guys to train with. I went down to Milwaukee, started training with Anthony Pettis and the guys at Rufus Sport."
• [22:15] Bilal Muhammad: "It's like a science instead of, let's just go out there and see what happens."

4. Upcoming Fight at UFC 315

Bilal elaborates on his strategy for the upcoming fight against Leon Edwards. Emphasizing his well-rounded skills, he aims to outbox Edwards and exploit his opponent’s weaknesses, anticipating that pushing Edwards will lead to a favorable outcome.

Notable Quotes:

• [34:35] Bilal Muhammad: "I want to embarrass him with boxing. I want to outbox him and then make him want to grapple."
• [34:42] Bilal Muhammad: "It's my goal to finish more fights, but I'm dominating these guys for a full 25 minutes."

5. Relationship with Islam Makhachev and Division Dynamics

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Bilal’s relationship with fellow fighter Islam Makhachev. Bilal emphasizes their strong bond and mutual respect, asserting that fighting friends like Islam isn't an option due to their brotherhood. He also touches upon the current competitive landscape in the welterweight division, mentioning other top contenders like Sean Brady, Justin Gaethje, and Kamaru Usman.

Notable Quotes:

• [10:01] Bilal Muhammad: "For me, the loyalty means more than anything... I would never want to disrespect him in any way."
• [24:17] Bilal Muhammad: "I think GSP, he's just so smart and he's better everywhere. He's more well-rounded."

6. Training with Khabib Nurmagomedov

Bilal shares insights from training alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov, highlighting the sense of brotherhood and relentless work ethic that Khabib instilled in him. This camaraderie and dedication have been instrumental in Bilal’s continuous improvement and success in the octagon.

Notable Quotes:

• [26:43] Bilal Muhammad: "What I learned from training with Khabib is to level up everywhere. It's a brotherhood."
• [26:55] Bilal Muhammad: "Nobody has an ego. He shows his humbleness and cares for everyone around him."

7. Philosophies and Motivations

Bilal delves into his personal philosophies, particularly his approach to handling victories and defeats. Rooted in his faith, Bilal emphasizes gratitude in all outcomes, viewing losses as opportunities for growth and understanding their place in his journey.

Notable Quotes:

• [29:58] Bilal Muhammad: "Allah's plan is the best plan. If God wants you to lose, it's meant to lose."
• [31:17] Bilal Muhammad: "Proving everybody who's thought that I couldn't make it here... watch me prove you wrong."

8. Future Aspirations and Legacy

Looking ahead, Bilal expresses his desire to solidify his legacy by defeating top-tier opponents and potentially moving up to the Middleweight division. He aims to showcase his versatility and dominance across multiple weight classes, ensuring his place among the UFC greats.

Notable Quotes:

• [22:42] Bilal Muhammad: "I want to leave the legacy of beating the best guys, taking the toughest challenges and winning them all."
• [31:34] Bilal Muhammad: "The people that really matter are the people in your circle... I'm gonna go all in for you guys, too."

9. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, Bilal thanks the hosts and expresses his gratitude for the support leading up to UFC 315. The hosts reaffirm their support, mentioning they will be present at the fight in Montreal.

Notable Quotes:

• [39:27] Bilal Muhammad: "Thank you, brother."
• [39:31] Bob Menery: "UFC 315."

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Summary Highlights:

• Bilal Muhammad’s Transformation: From a latecomer in MMA to UFC Welterweight Champion through dedication and strategic training.
• Importance of Brotherhood: Strong relationships within the UFC, notably with Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov, fostering mutual growth and respect.
• Strategic Fight Approach: Emphasis on outboxing opponents and exploiting their weaknesses to secure victories.
• Philosophical Grounding: Bilal’s faith and gratitude play a crucial role in his mindset, helping him navigate both victories and setbacks.
• Future Goals: Aspiration to cement his legacy by defeating top contenders and possibly venturing into higher weight classes.

This episode offers listeners an in-depth look into Bilal Muhammad’s mindset, training philosophy, and his path to becoming one of the elite fighters in the UFC. Through candid conversations and insightful reflections, Bilal provides valuable perspectives on what it takes to succeed at the highest levels of mixed martial arts.

Transcript

[Kyle Forgeard]

All right, guys, we got the UFC welterweight champ on today ahead of UFC 315. Before we get into it, if you guys have not tried out the Prizepix app for some reason by now, you gotta download it right now. I love to fire on sports, and I've tried every single app in the game, and Prizepix is by far the best app to fire on sports right now. Prize Picks has a crazy sweepstakes going on. If you put in a 5$3 pick NBA Flex lineup, you're automatically entered into the sweepstakes to win courtside tickets to the NBA Finals. That's sick. I'm going to be firing some NBA picks. The more you play, the more chances you have to win. Also, guys, we got Code Nelk for you guys. If you guys plug in that code and put in just $5, you're going to get $50 for free. No strings attached. We've been hot on Prize Picks. We're posting pics on our Instagram story for every single Maple Leafs games. We just destroyed the sends. We're in round two, so peep our Instagram story. We're posting pics every single game. Download the Prize Picks app right now. Try it out. It's so much fun. Use code Nelk. Let's get into the podcast.

[Bob Menery]

All right, guys, we got a great episode. Full send podcast today ahead of UFC 315. This Week in Montreal, we got Bilal Muhammad on the podcast. We just hit a pretty killer workout, right?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Man, you killed it. Like, that was tough for the first time, hitting the stairs, I think. I don't think I've seen anybody do as good as you. Really? Yeah. I'm not saying fighters, like, break and they'll get to the six. One. Ah, nah, bro, I'm done. I'm done. But you pushed it. You went hard. Even with the last sprint, I was like, nah, he's going to stop. He's going to stop. But, man, you showed it. You've been killing it.

[Bob Menery]

We were going to do the pod, and then I hit him up, and I was like, if you guys are doing a workout, I'll come join. So I was expecting maybe, like, hitting mitts or something. And then he sends me the location of the stairs, and he's like, we're running stairs. I searched it up. It's like a mountain. But, no, we did it. We killed it.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Anybody from Chicago, that's like the landmark for, like, people that want to work out, people that want to push. Walter Payne's been there. Any fighter that trains goes There, you'll see it. It's. When it's nice outside, it's, like, packed. It'll be hard to even, like, run up them.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah. So we got the fight against Maddalena next week, Montreal. We're gonna be there. Where does this rank amongst, like, tough fights in your career, would you say?

[Bilal Muhammad]

I mean, for me, it's your tough fight. Your next fights are always your toughest fight. Like, I never, ever look past an opponent because it's so hard in the sport, but for myself to see where I am right now and then, like, skill wise, body wise, like, I feel like I'm the best I've ever been. And when I'm looking at everybody else in division, even looking at Jack, like, I just don't see anybody, like, on my level.

[Bob Menery]

I feel like some crazy now is happening at lightweight and welterweight, like, recently. And I feel like this fight that. Your fight, I feel like, is going to be the most watched fight by, like, UFC fighters in lightweight and welterweight. Because I feel like your fight is just depicts what, like, everything else is going to happen at those two divisions. Would you agree?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, it's like the jingle boy, right? You got to pull it all out. And they're all just, like, waiting for it to happen. And I feel like Dana and all them guys are like, they're waiting too have so many contracts. All right, this, this.

[Bob Menery]

Because who's, like, Islam's kind of waiting, obviously, to see what happens. And then I. I'm sure, like, that decides Oliver's fight, Ilia's fight, Gate's fight, and then welterweight, I'm sure, like, all those guys are waiting to see what happens. So it's. It's kind of crazy.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. But I just, like, I already told them, like, there's no need to wait, like, I'm going to win. So whatever your plans are before that. And I'm like, especially with myself, I already know there's so many people that are just like, have their. Their draft saved of their tweet. That's going to be like, they're hop. Lose and then they're going to have to keep it in the drafts because once we win, they're. They're going to have to just, like, erase that memory from them.

[Bob Menery]

Who's next after this? If you win in welterweight, who do you think deserves it? Because now Ian Gary just won and then I guess Shavkot. We don't know. Is there any word on when he's coming back?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, I don't know. Like, I've hear that he's going to be out for a little bit longer. I don't know what his injury is. That's. They're very quiet with it, but.

[Bob Menery]

So no one knows how long he's out for, really.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Bob Menery]

And then Usman and Buckley just got announced.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Everybody's saying they're the next guy. Right. Even, like, Ian, like, he's talking, he's being vocal with it. I honestly, out of all of them, I think Sean Brady probably had the best performance. Like, beating Leon Edwards like that, finishing him. He looked the best, but obviously I finished him.

[Bob Menery]

So is that a fight you'd want to run back or, like.

[Bilal Muhammad]

I mean, I think he's earned it. Like, he's gotten there, but, like, if. If I'm being honest, obviously I think would. If Usman goes out there and he gets a big finish against Buckley, or even if Buckley gets a big finish beating Usman and Kobe back to back, I think that would put him ahead of everybody else, I think. Or Ian Usman would probably be the funnest build up because they both know how to talk. Yeah. And it's always, like, fun when. When you have a little bit back and forth.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah.

[Bilal Muhammad]

So for myself, like, even with, like, Leon, there's trash talk, so it made it a funner build up. Like with Jack, he's not really a talker, so it's not really a fun build up. But obviously the fight's the fight no matter what.

[Bob Menery]

How do you think Usman's gonna come out in that fight? I think he's been off for a while.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Right.

[Bob Menery]

Does he. Did he have an injury or something?

[Bilal Muhammad]

I just don't think he has any knees. So he just has to wait until his cartilage grows back, and then he just, like, tries to figure it out, and then it takes, like, two years for it to come back in there. Try stem. CE tries, like, collagen or something. But I think he was waiting for the right moment, and I think right now he's thinking that. All right, well, Buckley's running hot right now. It's a winnable fight for him. So maybe if he goes out there, he beats Buckley, he knows that his name's big enough to skip the line.

[Bob Menery]

You beat Leon pretty. I mean, it was a close fight, but I feel like you beat him pretty decisively. Were you expecting that from him? Because the way he beat Usman twice was, like, going into that fight, I was like, damn. Like, I thought Leon was about to make a crazy run for a bit, but you kind of just humbled them Right.

[Bilal Muhammad]

We've always thought, like, for myself, I. When I got into the sport, I always looked at, who's the champion? Who's that guy? And I always thought I could beat all these guys for myself. And I looked at the matchup, stylistically, I knew my style was his. Like his kryptonite, Like a pressure fighter that was in your face that was going to break you. I knew I was going to do that. And for me, I had probably like a year and a half just to focus and train for Leon because they made me weigh in as a backup. I had to wait a full year for him. I had a fight, like, stylistic. Yeah. I thought, like, Danny Maya, who's a straight grappler, wonder boy, who's a straight up striker, Luke, who's a knockout artist. So I've fought all these different styles, and whenever you do a camp for a specific style, it levels you up. So I'm always getting better every camp. I'm growing every camp. And when I saw Leon, I was like, there's nothing that he's going to show me that I haven't seen before. And also just adding the anger part of it, right? Like, he poked me in the eye first time we fought, and then he was, like, acting like I didn't deserve it, I didn't earn it. I was on a nine fight winning streak, so that did nothing, but just like, like, put a chip on my shoulder and make me want to embarrass him in front of his people.

[Bob Menery]

Is there beef between you and Usman?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Oh, bro, yeah. I don't like him. He was one of those guys, right? When he was a champion, he acted like I didn't exist and I was on a good streak. He was always, oh, let me just rematch Kobe. Let me rematch Masvidal. But then when I won the belt, now he wants to, like, talk, right? And his ego is so big. I went on his podcast.

[Bob Menery]

What was good with the mystery podcast? Have you ever talked about that or.

[Bilal Muhammad]

No, I'm talking about. I said about it. But, like, for me, it's. I understand why they wouldn't want to put it out, right? Like, if you're on a podcast with somebody. If I was on a podcast with you and I made you cry on your own podcast, like, you're gonna hold that in and you're not gonna want to put it out there.

[Bob Menery]

What happened?

[Bilal Muhammad]

We were on his podcast and Henry Cejudo, like, was like, you know, how does it feel to be champion? And, you know, you're at the top now. And I thought, you know, it feels good right now because everybody wants to listen to you. Everybody thinks you're the champ. Everybody has to look up at you now. And Ushma's like, I was a champ too. I was like, yeah, but you're not the champ anymore. And then he just couldn't let it go. He's like, but I'm right there. I was like, nah, bro, you're on a three fight loser streak. He's like, I still had the belt. And I was like, that I'm the champion now. But he just couldn't give me my, my props, right? Oh, it was just one of those where he was just like, put up anything. You do, I do better than you. And then I was like, but you didn't take the head kick better than me. And I think that just like triggered him where he was just like, I don't play these games, man. It's. It's on when we, when, when people talk like that and I'm just like, on. We're, we're right in front of each other on site. So then, you know.

[Bob Menery]

Oh, you guys did it in person?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, it was in person.

[Bob Menery]

Oh, cuz they do it over zoom sometimes too.

[Bilal Muhammad]

No, this was in person. Yeah, we had the same manager, right? Ali Al. He was like, ali's the goat, bro. Yeah, he's the man. And when he told me to go do their podcast, I was like, are you sure? No, brother, it's going to be professional. It's going to be this. Like, you're, you're good. I was like, bro, it doesn't matter to me. Like, I'm the champ, I don't really care. Go on the podcast. And then, you know, Henry Cejudo twisted his ankle, had to break it up, but.

[Bob Menery]

Oh, you guys actually got into a physical.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah, but have you guys said that publicly ever or. No.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, I mean, I think it's. I didn't know it out there, but like I said, they had the footage, right? Maybe he's waiting to. Oh, you guys actually got into it.

[Bob Menery]

I didn't know that. Yeah, that's funny.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. Damn.

[Bob Menery]

So that would be a good buildup for a fight then, right?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Like, he wants the Buckley fight. Put it out there. But like I said, they got to have the right editors, the right people to fix it all up to hide his tears.

[Bob Menery]

All right, guys, you guys have heard.

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[Bob Menery]

Let's get back into the pod and then. Yeah, I guess you've probably been getting asked this a lot, but Islam and you, there's no, there's no chance that would ever happen.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Right.

[Bob Menery]

Because of your guys friendship.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. 100. I mean for me, like the loyalty means more than anything, especially with those guys. Like they've done and it helped me so much. But you've been with them, you train with them. Like you understand like the brotherhood.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah, of course.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Of them guys.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah.

[Bilal Muhammad]

So like I would never want to like disrespect him in any way or I couldn't even like fight him. He was in their corner. It was just like break my heart because he was one of the guys when I was like still coming up. Even though he's younger than me, like I still like look up to a guy like that. Right. Where being a Muslim, being religious and seeing how he brought the religion into the sport and showed it and like how he like portrayed himself and was a champion is like. And like I said, he's helped me and he's never asked for anything in return. So like for those guys, I wouldn't do it. Like I would move up before fighting.

[Bob Menery]

Them guys because Islam, he wants to be double champ. That's no, that's one of his goals. Right. So I guess it's like a touchy.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, exactly. And then for myself it was. I feel like I'm at the point now where if I get two wins, two title defenses I could start looking and move up. When I'm looking at 85, I think it's an easy division for myself. I don't think it would be a problem. So me and. It's like, go, double chant, double chant back to back.

[Bob Menery]

Have you and Islam ever, like, spoken about that?

[Bilal Muhammad]

No. I mean, we've talked and it'd be.

[Bob Menery]

Like, like, has he ever said how he feels about.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, I mean, he's like, same thing. Yeah, same thing. Like, disgusting. Obviously, like you said, everybody's gonna keep asking the same question or they're gonna keep like, oh, it's because he's afraid of this guy. He's moving. He's running from this guy or that guy. And it's like, at the end of the day, there's, like, really no fighter afraid of any other fighter. So, like, for ourselves and for myself, like, I consider them guys brothers, and I would never fight like a brother like that or. And I couldn't see myself, like, doing a training camp for those guys or wanting to fight those guys. Right.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah. Who do you think Islam should fight next then?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Honestly, I think Justin makes a lot of sense for Justin. He's like, on. What is he, three and one in his last four? He's never fought him before. And people are always going to watch Justin. Right. Obviously, Topuria moved up, but I. For Islam, who fought Volkanovsky twice and didn't get any credit for it, like, people are like, oh, he fought a 45er, so it doesn't really make sense for him. All right, let me fight A another 45er and then he beats him. And they'll be like, well, Toporia has the option of saying, well, I'm just gonna go back down to 45.

[Bob Menery]

I was, too, but I think Poria is vacated.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Right.

[Bob Menery]

So that's the difference now is Tapori is saying, like, I'm no longer at that division. Like, I'm now at lightweight.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. But say he goes up there and he loses. He still has the option to be like, well, I'm gonna go back down. Who's the champion? I knocked out Volkanovsky. Let me. I'll get a rematch right away. Like, he could. He'll get.

[Bob Menery]

He just can't make that weight no more.

[Bilal Muhammad]

I mean, you could always make the life changes. Right. Right. There's a lot of guys especially like him who are. He cuts away drinking wine, and he could do that fight week. I think he probably gets tired of cutting weight. Cut away. It's not fun. And he probably thinks that with the. With the confidence from knocking out Holloway and Volkanovsky back to back. He thinks that, hey, I can knock these guys out. But the only fight he's had at 55, he's gotten dropped by Jai Herbert. And then we've seen him get like out muscled and out wrestled by a couple guys at 45, I think Islam's just going to be way too big for him. But if he goes out there and he beats a guy like Oliveira or even like a Justin or Dustin, like, then you earn your spot. I think that for him it'll just show them. It'll make that fight even bigger with this time.

[Bob Menery]

And then I guess there's Armand at that division too, right? That division stacked.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, there's. There's so many good fights for him. You got Patty, just one, two. So like for island, there's guys that he hasn't fought right, and there's other guys that are up there that are hyping it up and that, that'll be huge fights. Armand is a beast, but that injury, last one. So like for him now it's just trying to get another fight out the way. But it's hard because nobody wants to fight anybody. Every one of them saying, like, now I'm gonna wait for the title fight. Oliver, I'm not fighting nobody but for the title. Tapori, I'm not fighting nobody but for the title. Justin, I earned a title shot. So like you said, I think they're all just waiting for the, the dominoes to fall. And after next weekend, I think a lot of like, the questions will be answered.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah. I saw you posted the other day a T shirt of you and Hamza. A fake, like, fight. Was that like, what's going on there? Is that like something you want to happen one day?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Somebody asked me in an interview, they're like, would you move up to 85 if Hamza was champion? And I said, bro, I was calling him out when I was at welterweight, when he was welterweight, I literally wore that shirt to the event. And I, I had shirts I was throwing out to the crowd for myself. I'm a guy like, the NBA 82.

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[Bilal Muhammad]

I want to fight the toughest guys. The toughest test. They. He's undefeated. They think that he could walk through everybody. You're not going to walk through me. So I was calling him out and then he posted like a. A pony yesterday. And he's like, where are you going?

[Bob Menery]

I was like, I didn't quite get it.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it was like a patty, you know, you little sausage or something like that.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah. I don't know if it's like a Russian joke or something weird.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. But I was like, all right, bro, I've been called you out. I asked for the fight a million times.

[Bob Menery]

You don't really know what to do when you get called a pony, too, bro. I was like, just throws you off.

[Bilal Muhammad]

I don't know what that means, but I'm talking.

[Bob Menery]

He was with you?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Bob Menery]

A pony. So random.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, it was, like, random, but I was like, I'm gonna take that as disrespect. What are you talking about?

[Bob Menery]

Yeah, definitely. Is there no Muslim Brotherhood connection there with Hamza? He seems like a bit of an outlier in the Muslim, like, Brotherhood world. Like, he had beef with Abu Bakr too, right?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, he had beef with their team. But I think about his.

[Bob Menery]

Squash it.

[Bilal Muhammad]

They squashed it. Yeah. I think. And, like, for myself, it's not, like, it's not beef. Like, even if I fight Shafka, he's Muslim, too. So, like, I haven't trained with those guys. I haven't, like, sweated bled with those guys. So it's not the same thing. And for me, I look at it as a sport. They all want what I have. I'm the champion, so I want what they have. Right. Like, he's got that undefeated streak. I want to take that from him. I want to take his O from him. So it's. It's all competition. It's. At the end of the day, it's like, I want to leave this sport with my resume showing that I fought the best guys and I beat the best guys. When people think of me, he took the toughest test and he went the longest road to get where he got. And he did what nobody thought he could do. I started at 23 years old. I didn't, I wasn't born with it. I wasn't from the mountains. The DAG said like, I wrestled two years in high school and this was all just like natural heart, natural skill, natural hard work that got me here.

[Bob Menery]

Wow, you started at 23?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bob Menery]

And how old are you now?

[Bilal Muhammad]

36.

[Bob Menery]

How did you start?

[Bilal Muhammad]

I was in college. I was, I was at U of I. And I was just like going to be a lawyer. And then like I said, I wrestled that high school in south side of Chicago and we had a coach there, Lewis Taylor, and he like left after like one year because we're. It wasn't the best school. They didn't really care about the wrestling team. And then he was like, gone. And I was like, whatever happened to him? But he was like that cool young coach that you had a connection with. And then when I was in college, I randomly saw him in a newspaper and he was fighting for Strike Force. So then I just like reached out to him on Facebook and I was like, bro, you're a fighter. And he's like, yeah, man, I'm a fighter. I train at this gym and it ended up being like near my, my parents house. So whenever I come home on the weekends, I would go see him, visit him, and then we'll train a little bit. And then he started teaching me a little bit and he started teaching me a little bit more. So every weekend I would come home. Then I transferred to a closer college here, started training more full time. And then I was like, let me take amateur fight. So after like three or four months of training with them, I got an amateur fight. And then I was like locked in here in Chicago. Yeah, I was like hooked. My, my hand got raised. I won the fight, but I was like addicted to it. I have like addictive personality. Like when I do something and I go super hard, I go all in with it. So then I was like, I could always go back to college. I always finish college, go to law school, whatever. But I'm like, let's see how far we can go with this. We started training, we started working, and then I went pro after three amateur fights. And I said, we'll just go until we lose. And then we got to 9. 0. We won Titan FC belt and then we got signed to the UFC short notice.

[Bob Menery]

What was it like getting signed to the ufc?

[Bilal Muhammad]

It was.

[Bob Menery]

How did you, like, find out and stuff?

[Bilal Muhammad]

They called me. It was like, during Ramadan, and I was like, fasting and they called me for. It was like three or four week notice to fight Alan Joe Band. And at the time, he was a big name. He had a good streak, and I'm undefeated. I just won a belt.

[Bob Menery]

Who called you from there?

[Bilal Muhammad]

It was my manager.

[Bob Menery]

Okay.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. So then I was like, let's, let's go. Because I was like, at 3.0and I want to try it off. The Ultimate Fighter didn't make it. I was at 6. 0, tried off for the Ultimate Fighter, didn't make it. And then I kept winning on the thing. I was like, man, are they ever going to call me? I'm ever going to get the shot. And then once I finally get that call, you're like, this is it. This is my spot. I'm gonna make it. And it was in Vegas. It was that. It was like International Fight Week 2 where they had like three events on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and I fought on Friday, so. And then. But I went out there and it was like. It was a war. It was like fight of the night. But I lost. And it was like my first loss. And then you're like, dang, am I not good enough to be in the ufc? Do I not belong here? So then I was like, calling Magic, bro. Give me another fight right away. And then he got me a fight probably like a couple months later, and then I won. And then I was like, all right, we're back on it. We're. We're good. We're this. We belong here. And then I got called for the Madison Square Garden Fight, UFC 205, like the biggest card. And then I go out there, and then I lost. It was my first time ever getting knocked out. And then that was when I was like, dang, I'm 1 and 2 in the UFC. I'm not good enough to be here. I don't like it. That was it. I was like, they're gonna cut me. And then they finally called me, like a short notice fight, probably like a month later for Randy Brown. We won that one, we got a new contract. And then from there on out, we just kept winning and just kept pushing it.

[Bob Menery]

What do you think changed? Like, what after that loss did you, like, realize or what made you change after that?

[Bilal Muhammad]

The training for sure. Like for myself. When 90 when I. When I was training, when I first was coming up, it, like, there was, like, no structures to the training. It was mostly just, like, me and Lou, and then we'll have other training partners. I was training with a couple bantam weights. My other boy, Horacio, who was a 45er, but, like, we were just, all right, let's spar today. All right, let's wrestle today. Let's. Let's do this today. So, like, there wasn't really, like, a system. So I, like, learned after that. And then after I took that second loss, I was like, all right, well, I need to find other guys to train with. I went down to Milwaukee, started training with, like, Anthony Pettis and the guys at Rufus Sport, and at the time, he was the champion. So I started learning more from those guys, seeing how they do it. And then I'll bring that back here to this team or here, and then I would go to other gems, learn from them, Other gems, learn from them. And I think it just helped me build a system of what works for me and how we do it. And I think, like, right now, the structure that I have, we do a hard session in the morning and then afternoon session. It's more like. Like, a boxing style where it's. We're gearing it toward game planning for a specific opponent. And then, you know, obviously, I have strength, conditioning, and what you call it, but I made it more of a science instead of, let's just go out there and see what happens. So now it's like, everything's strategy, everything's, what's my opponent. We're going to break them down. We're going to do this, this, and this for this guy. We're going to do drills when we're not in camp. We're gonna fix all the stuff that we're not good at, and then it's just constant training, constant improvement, instead of, we're not an O, we're doing everything right. We don't need to fix anything.

[Kyle Forgeard]

Also, guys, really, really quick, we restocked FullSend.com with a ton of new UFC full send stuff. It's all on the website right now. This shit's been going crazy. You guys love it. I love rocking this, to be honest. We also have some exclusive UFC Montreal stuff, too, that's actually going to be sold hold at the fight. So we're actually going to be there at UFC Montreal. If you guys are there, check it out at the arena. Make sure you cop some. We got Bilal Muhammad on the pod ahead of UFC 315, let's get into it.

[Bob Menery]

What do you want to achieve with your UFC career? Like, do you want to be double champ? And like, how long do you want to stay at welterweight before you. If you want to move up?

[Bilal Muhammad]

For me, with my UFC career, I want to like, leave the legacy of beating the best guys, taking the toughest challenges and winning them all. Obviously, if Hamza wins, which I think he will at 185 and then he walks through a couple of guys and he's that guy that they think is untouchable, I think me moving up and beating him, that would like, cement me as one of the best to ever do it. And especially now being at my weight class, you got a lot of hungry guys, right? A lot of undefeated guys, guys who they still think will, will beat me. Jack's on a 17 fight winning streak, so I think there's a lot of like, guys for me to be at my weight class. But I also have five top 10 wins in my weight class. So if I get out there and win two or three more, that'll be eight top 10 wins in your weight class. And there's no other champion that's done that or had to do that.

[Bob Menery]

Who do you think's like the next three guys that, that you'd want to beat that? I want to be in that division.

[Bilal Muhammad]

In my division.

[Bob Menery]

Welterweight.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. I think Jack Shavka, and I'm hoping Usman wins because I want Usman. Yeah, yeah, he's that guy, right? When they're, when they're thinking of, they had, you know, competition with him and gsp, like debates. Who's the, who's the goat between them at welterweight?

[Bob Menery]

Who you think was more goaded, Usman or GSP? GSP, I think GSP, no question.

[Bilal Muhammad]

100. Like, I don't even think Uzmatch. Like, I'm not a hater, right? But when I look at the guys.

[Bob Menery]

Who do you think would have won though, in their prime? Usman or gsp? I think it would have been close though, right?

[Bilal Muhammad]

It would have been close. But I think gsp, he's just so smart and he's just, he was, he was better everywhere. I think he's more well rounded. Usman is obviously good, right? But the guys that, you know, when you're having rematches with Kobe and you have a rematch with Masvidal, and you didn't fight different stylistic guys, right? I fought the, the Maya, the Wonder boy, the, the Luke, they were all on good streaks at that time. Gilbert Burns, as well, but undefeated. Sean Brady. Like, I had to keep fighting a different style every time for him, it's like, all right, well, Masvidal, back to back. All right, cool. Kobe, back to back. And now we're all realizing Kobe sucks. So it's like, when you look back at his fights, who had wars with a guy who sucks? It's like, well, how good was really Usman? And then a guy who got knocked out by Leon and then lost to Leon, and then I dominated Leon. It's like, was he really that good? Was he really goated? Like a gsp?

[Bob Menery]

Another theoretical one. Tough position for you, but in their. Both their primes, in a fight that almost happened, Khabib or GSP at their.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Primes, man, I think, honestly, I don't think anybody would beat Habib.

[Bob Menery]

I think GSP would have beat him, bro. ESP would have took him on the feet.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Habib would take him down. Like, it to me. No, bro, he would take him down. When he grabs you, when he. When he think, bro, I've seen him.

[Bob Menery]

Like, but on the feet, was he. I think he would have pieced up Khabib, and I love Khabib. He's like. He's the best.

[Bilal Muhammad]

But the thing is with. With Habib, like, to piece him up, you have to get close enough to hit him, Right. When you get close enough to hit him, he's gonna get.

[Bob Menery]

You think he would have took him down?

[Bilal Muhammad]

I think he would have took him down.

[Bob Menery]

I don't know.

[Bilal Muhammad]

We see him get taken down by Josh Koschuk. Right. We've seen Hendrix take him down, but those guys were more college wrestlers.

[Bob Menery]

True.

[Bilal Muhammad]

I think when you look at Habib's style of wrestling and grappling and ground and pound, it was something that really, he didn't have to fight because more of the guys that he fought were like specialists. If when he fought Johnny Hendrix.

[Bob Menery]

I forgot about the Hendrix one.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, right. Like, he was a college wrestler. He fought a specific way. Way. Even Jake Shields was a jitsu type wrestler. Grappler. He fought him a specific way. Nick Diaz, grappler, specific way. I think Habib, his. His style of grappling and wrestling like you did, you didn't have to deal with it back then.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah.

[Bilal Muhammad]

And a lot of guys, those guys in the era didn't have to deal with them back then. But now, like, you see the Dagestani guys are coming, man. They're.

[Bob Menery]

They're crazy, bro.

[Bilal Muhammad]

They're taking over.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah, they're the best, and they're such good Role models, too. They're good people to look up to.

[Bilal Muhammad]

What's.

[Bob Menery]

What's the biggest thing you learned from training with Khabib?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Honestly, it's like, you level up everywhere. Like, the hard work, like, you were there, right? People always, like, what's the secret with them guys? They just push so hard. Every single person in that room, they really care about each other. Like, it's a brotherhood.

[Bob Menery]

It is a brotherhood. All they do is train and just talk and drink tea.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Exactly. Right? And then nobody has, like, an ego. Like, I'm not jealous of you that you're the champion now. They all, like, Habib will sit there and buy all these guys, you know, go to the. The nicest clothing stores, buy them clothes, and he'll be like, this is my favorite store. And he'll go to just, like, regular buy T shirt stuff. But he's care of everybody around him. And then just, like, shows you, like, his humbleness. There's not like, I'm sitting first class. You're sitting in the back. Like, he doesn't have none of that. No.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah, we've seen that with the playing incident, bro.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Exactly.

[Kyle Forgeard]

Right?

[Bilal Muhammad]

It just shows you what type of guy he is. That's what I built around myself. Like, the guys that I have around me, the team that I have around me, we've all been together probably for, like, 15 years. We all trained together. We all started together. So, like, even when I got the title fight, people are like, oh, come here to this gym. Go to a bigger gym here. Go there. And I was like, no, these are the guys that got me here. We all got here together. We're all going to win the title together, right? So even winning the belt, it was like a journey for all of us, right? We achieved it all together because, you know, they're sacrificing time for their day to. To come and help me train. Like, the people that work with me that are in my corner, like, they have other jobs, they have families, but they're. They're going on the road with me. They're going to practices with me. They're watching me. They're. They're studying tape. And, you know, I don't take that lightly, right? It just makes me want to work that much harder for them because it's. It's a selfish sport, but it's also, like, a team sport as well, where, like, I see you putting it all in. So I'm gonna go all in for you guys, too, right?

[Bob Menery]

What's so crazy about Khabib, too? I think of, like, it's almost like he got bigger after he retired, right?

[Bilal Muhammad]

100.

[Bob Menery]

Which is crazy.

[Bilal Muhammad]

He could say one thing, and then people are like, they'll make 20 articles about it, right?

[Bob Menery]

Like, he was big after the McGregor fight, but then I think it's when he really, like, stood on business and actually said, like, yo, I'm walking away. Because people didn't at first. Like, when someone says they're retiring, they're like, yeah, right. Like, yeah. But it's when he actually said, like, no. Like, I told my mom, I'm done. And, like, he never came back. And then you kind of, like, realized, like, what type of person he really was.

[Bilal Muhammad]

You know what I mean? Right.

[Bob Menery]

Oh, this guy actually, like. I mean, who knows how much he could have made? What did the UFC throw at him? You think?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Like, bro, I couldn't. I can't imagine how much you think. I would say at least 20, 30 mil.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, for sure.

[Bob Menery]

For that. Like, McGregor Khabib, too.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Even with, like, the bigger names at that time, Oliveira was blowing up. And he had the hype, right? They were like, oh, Habib's running from Oliveira. Like, there was nobody bigger than. Than Habib. And then even with the GSP fight, if he would have came back for that fight, imagine how big that would. I wish I didn't see anybody, like, beating him. But, like, even for himself, he. He's. He let it go, and he's like, you know, Islam's taking over. He's the one guy taking over now, and he stuck to his words, stuck to his guns, but he's still in the gym training with these guys, still in the gym coaching these guys, sacrificing his time. And it's just. It's cool to see because somebody that, like, stood by their word like that, there's not a lot of guys that would do that.

[Bob Menery]

I saw you said he said something to you that. That kind of relieved you of pressure.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah.

[Bob Menery]

What was that?

[Bilal Muhammad]

When he courted me for the. The Sean Brady fight, Like, being religious, being Muslim, like, he was just so chill and calm in the back room, and he's like, brother, you did all the work. There's. There's no need to be nervous, right? Allah's plan is the best plan. If God wants you to lose, it's meant to lose. There's a reason for it. And you just say alhamdulillah. That means thank God. So even when you win, you thank God. When you lose, you thank God because it's protecting you from something or it's putting you somewhere in a spot where you could do something else. Even when I look back at my losses, right, it felt like the worst thing that could happen to me at the time. I'm like, bro, I did everything. I. I worked hard, I trained hard. Why did I lose? Why was I meant to lose that fight? Why did it happen like this? But then hindsight is 2020 when you're looking back. It made me change, it made me grow, it made me learn, it made me want to get better here, here, and here. And then I'm like, oh, so that was the reason for it. Those were the tests for it. So when he said that to me, just, like, clicked, because you're always like, you know, you get the nerves in the back room. You're like this, but you have, like, a freedom about yourself when you're like, the result doesn't matter what. Whatever happens in these 25 minutes, 15 minutes, it's meant to happen. It's just a small window, and at the end of the day tomorrow, a week later, it's going to be forgotten, no matter what.

[Bob Menery]

What do you think drives you to, like, fight? Like, is it legacy, or is it it. Is there people around you?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Like I said, the people around me that have been with me since the beginning, but also for myself, it's like, just proving everybody who's thought that I couldn't make it here, like, I've had so many people that, oh, you can't do it. You're not gonna make the ufc. Oh, he says he's gonna be a champion. You're not gonna make a chance. You're not gonna be a champion.

[Bob Menery]

Like, who? People in real life or just online.

[Bilal Muhammad]

People in real life? Yeah, yeah, I've had people. I had family members that, when I had my first win in the ufc, like, well, at least you got one win in the ufc. So if you lose the rest of them, at least you. You can say you had one. And it was just like, is that what you really think? Like, you don't think I'm good enough, but it just made me, like, all right, cool. Like, you don't believe me, but watch me. Watch me do it. Watch me prove you're wrong. Watch me show you. The people online doesn't really matter, right? Like, the people that really matter are the people that are in your circle. The people that, like, see me every day, see how hard I work. Like, I've had. Had coaches that will. Will tell you. Like, when I first met Coach Mike, he saw me train one time. He said, you could be a champion. And I was just like, no, I don't believe him. But he, like, stuck with me. He helped me grow. He helped me get better.

[Bob Menery]

He said that to you all the first time?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. Really Kept telling you that.

[Bob Menery]

And first time you met him?

[Bilal Muhammad]

First time I met him, he saw.

[Bob Menery]

Me, he said, you could be a champion.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah.

[Bob Menery]

That's crazy, bro.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. And he has, like, a good eye, and he's been with, like, the best of the best. And then you're thinking, like, what do.

[Bob Menery]

You think made him say that?

[Bilal Muhammad]

I think he just saw my work ethic. Like, when I go into practice room, when I push, it's like I push, try to push harder than everybody else. And, like, he has guys. One of my main training partners, Ignacio Balmondes, who's been training since he was, like, 8 years old. And, like, he has, like, the most talent I ever seen. So, like, I went with him the first time, like, bro, who the fudge is this kid? And he's a beast. And then, like. But, like, I didn't back down. I'm a guy. If you go with me, you beat me. I want to go with you. Tomorrow I go with Habib, he'll freaking smash me. And then I'm so. Well, let's try it again tomorrow. If I get it, make him work a little bit harder tomorrow. That means I know I'm getting better, I'm growing. I'm not a guy that's, like, gonna shy away, like, oh, you beat me, let me go with somebody else who's the easier matchup. And I think that's just that mentality he saw, and I think he just knew what I was capable of.

[Bob Menery]

What do you say to fans that want you to, like, finish more fights? Is that something you pay attention to, or you just don't really care?

[Bilal Muhammad]

I mean, obviously, for. For me, that's always the goal. Right. If I go into every fight and finish, it would make my job easier. And then we go with that. We. Like I said, we. Every fight, we look back at the last fight and we try to fix things and evolve and get better and grow. But I'm fighting the best in the world. It's not easy to. To finish these guys. Not easy to. To beat these guys. Right. A lot of these guys are training specifically for you. So for me, it's like, you get stressed about it and you're like, I want to finish more. I want to do this more. But at the end of the day, I'm dominating these guys for a full 25 minutes. I'm beating these guys in all aspects of MMA. I'm. I'm beating them in the striking, in the grappling, in the wrestling. So defenses will come. They will happen. And they'll just come at the right time. Right. And I just can't be impatient with it, and I can't try to rush it, because that's where something goes wrong. You. You get caught or you do. You get sloppy in there. So for me, it's just, like, staying the course, and then once they start happening, it'll. It'll be at the highest level.

[Bob Menery]

You gave a pretty decisive description on how you're going to finish this fight. I saw on an interview.

[Bilal Muhammad]

No, now I want to finish it more. Right. Because now.

[Bob Menery]

But you went into detail. Like, you're like, I'm gonna hit him with a jab and then he's gonna duck.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah, I always do that. I always come out with these description. Right. I think I'm gonna. Like I said, people look at him and it thinks he's a boxer. But to me, I think I had the best boxing in the division where we had this thing we call it Canelo hands. We work outside of camp. We're. We're getting better with our hands. And when people saw me fight Leon and I said I was gonna out strike him, they're like, no, you can't out strike him. I'm like, watch me outbox him. And we did that for Jack. He only has one way to win, right? It's with striking, it's with boxing. So for me, I want to go out there and embarrass him with boxing. I want to go out there and outbox him and then make him want to grapple, make him have to do something that he can do that he's not uncomfortable with. There's not a plan B for him. So once he gets there and he realizes that he's not good enough with the hands, not good enough with the striking, and he looks at his coaches, and his coaches have nothing else to say to him. That's when the finish will come. That's when the breaking point will come for him. He's never fought anybody like me who's good everywhere. He hasn't fought anybody like me that can go hard from the first round to the last round. And once he gets in there and he sees it and he feels it, that's when they break. That's when the pressure comes. That's when the inexperience will hurt him.

[Bob Menery]

How's your, like, relationship with The UFC evolved. What was it like getting that belt on you? Do you remember that feeling?

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. 100, right? Because it was the hardest thing. It was the longest process for me to even get the title shot.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah, you had the longest road for sure, bro.

[Bilal Muhammad]

I was on a 7, 5 winning streak. Oh, well, all right, now here goes 15, 0. Sean Brady. You're like, Bro, okay, a AI win. Oh, well, you still need one more. And then I was like, okay, well, here goes. Gilber burn on three weeks notice. If you win this for sure, you'll get it. And then you're like, well, all right, well, I got to say yes. And then you go out there, you beat him, and then it was like, maybe you got to do one more. And you're like, bro, come on. What else do I got to do? Like, what else do you need? Is there something you got against me? Is there this or that? That? But at the end of the day, they stuck to their word, right? They gave me the shot. It was, I think, the perfect moment for me because it was in Leon's country. We had a fight at 5am we had to go all the way out there. We. The first time I fought him was in the apex. There was nobody there. It was short notice fight. So this time it was the biggest stage. It was meant to happen like this. It was. I was the underdog. The morning of the fight was like a sense of relief, right? Because it was here. Like, we didn't have to wait no more. There was. There was nothing else. I think it was like the least stressed I ever felt before a fight. And then once I got the belt wrapped in my race, it was more so like, we did it. Like, they didn't believe in us. They didn't think we could do it, even after my Gilbert Burns. But I saw Dana in the back, and he was like, man, they keep doubting you, but you keep winning. And then it was like, kind of like that same feeling after this fight, man, nobody believed that, but you did it it like. And then we're gonna keep doing that, I think so. It just makes me want to just keep showing them and keep proving them, the doubters and the. The haters wrong.

[Bob Menery]

So now, like, that you're champ, does the UFC kind of call you and just say, like, yo, this is the fight? Or do you have any type of, like, back and forth that means they'll.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Ask me, like, how. What my body feels like? For me, it was like being the champion. I was like, let's do a quick turnaround. When do you guys want it? And then they called me for the Shaft Cop fight last December. We had the infection. So, like, messed up those plans. So with this one, I was expecting it to be Shafka. And then they were like, well, he's out. It was either between, like, JDM and Buckley. And then for me, I was like, I don't really care who it is, which one it is. Just let me know the date. And they gave me the date, and then it was Buckley. Then they were like, well, it's going to be jdm. So for me, I'm like, all right, I'm down. So as long as I had the date, the time, as long as I had the right camp, camp, I'm good with it. And then even with this fight, I become out unscathed. I'm ready to go again.

[Bob Menery]

You think Buckley's. What do you think of him? You think he's a real deal or. No?

[Bilal Muhammad]

I think he's a real deal. Like, he's got a good streak going. He's trying to obviously promote himself and talk his way up. If he beats Usman, I think that'll be the fight.

[Bob Menery]

That fight's gonna have some hype on it.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah.

[Bob Menery]

I think because he's talking.

[Bilal Muhammad]

He's already talking, and they both can.

[Bob Menery]

Talk a little bit. Yeah, yeah.

[Bilal Muhammad]

And he, like, Even if he doesn't have any beef with you, he's gonna, like, talk. Like, if you could talk about DC and make a. Have a beef with DC randomly, I'm like, bro, DC's like, the nicest guy with DC. Yeah. He said something stupid about him. I don't know what he said.

[Bob Menery]

Oh, yeah, DC's the best.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Yeah. Buckley would say a lot of dumb stuff, right? I just don't think he's. He's good at promoting. Promoting, but at least he's trying. So for me, I don't think the trash thought's gonna be good just because Usman's terrible at trash talk and Buckley's terrible at trash talk. But I think the fight will be on a tan.

[Bob Menery]

All right. Well, yeah, bro. I don't want to hold you up too long. This is awesome. I know you got a busy schedule. We're going to be there at the fight. Montreal. We're rooting for you. I know Saleem's super pumped for this fight. He's.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Oh, dope.

[Bob Menery]

Yeah, we're all gonna be there, so I appreciate you, brother.

[Bilal Muhammad]

Thank you, brother.

[Bob Menery]

UFC 315.