Belal Muhammad Willing to Fight “Brother” Islam Makhachev for the Title

In a shocking video, Belal Muhammad has been seen saying he will be fighting Islam if he wins his upcoming fight with Ian Machado Garry. He taunted that “you are here to be the best in the world”, which clearly suggests that his eyes are on that gold. This has shocked many fans because Team Khabib has helped Belal to elevate his game and become a champion and in the past we have seen Islam saying he will not move up to a belt because he does not want to fight Belal as he considers him his brother.

Seems like Belal Muhammad is open to fighting Islam Makhachev now that he's the champion at 170 👀👀

"Yea. You're in the sport to be the best in the world, so…"

(via @TMZ_Sports, @MMAFighting) pic.twitter.com/qydrU3sW2Q

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 22, 2025

However, now when Belal is in a similar position, he has different plans. He wants to challenge Islam now that he is fully aware of Khabib and his camp and all their inside tricks. This has gone and had lot of backlash as many fans find it very selfish and Belal has quite frankly seen all the training and has wrestled with Islam and Khabib during training and sparring and he knows the inside information which he can easily exploit against during a potential fight with Islam.

Backstory

Belal Muhammad entered 2024 as the UFC welterweight champion after shocking Leon Edwards with a dominant five-round decision at UFC 304 in July. He had earned the belt on his second attempt after a no-contest with Edwards in 2021 (due to an accidental eye poke by Leon). Jack Della Maddalena defeated Belal Muhammad, becoming UFC Welterweight Champion at UFC 315 and following this defeat Belal is fighting for first time.

Islam Makhachev, on the other hand, has become a two division world champion and is curretly the UFC Welterweight Champion and former UFC Lightweight Champion.

The problem arises because to become Welterweight Champion again he has to fight Islam for the title. Many have speculated that Belal will return the favor and will not want to fight Islam as they are on the same team. However, Belal has taken a heel turn and is now openly talking about a possible future bout with Islam. We can even see a possible callout for the fight if Belal manage to secure his win today.

Featured Image: “Belal Muhammad UFC” by Inaquout, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. No changes made.