Belal Muhammad has never been one to hold back his thoughts, and his recent comments against UFC CEO Dana White are no exception. The reigning welterweight champion criticized the head honcho’s alleged favoritism, namely how the UFC boss viewed his performances in comparison to those of other fighters. Speaking on the Barstool Chicago podcast, Muhammad slammed White for dismissing his decisive victory over Leon Edwards while praising Sean Strickland despite his poor performance at UFC 312.

The welterweight champion was scheduled to defend his belt against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 but was forced to withdraw due to a bone infection. Despite his outstanding track record, he believes White does not give him the same push as other opponents. Belal Muhammad pointed out that the UFC president dismissed his massive victory over Edwards, saying, “Well, it wasn’t a barn burner.”

Meanwhile, after Sean Strickland fell to Dricus Du Plessis in what many considered one of the worst title fights ever, the head honcho was still full of praise for ‘Tarzan’. ‘Remember the name,’ said, “I walked through them. Then you’ll see Strickland this weekend not do anything, and Dana White’s like, ‘Man, he’s so tough, so professional’. Being in the cage is way different. Even when he broke his nose, he manned up. I was like, ‘Bro, that was the worst title fight I’ve ever seen in my life. Worst title challenger performance, and you’re trying to put him on a pedestal’. I’m like, ‘Bro, get out of here with that’.”

Belal Muhammad also revealed on the podcast how Dana White’s attitude toward him saw a massive change after seeing the numbers he raked in for the UFC. The welterweight champion said, “I mean, he treated me differently since he saw we got 20 million views on Instagram. He was like, ‘Oh, well, okay, this guy is a star,’ right?” But now that Dana White knows that the welterweight champ too is a mega-star, can we see him go one-on-one against another champion? Well, it seems like ‘Remember the Name’ is interested in getting one, and he has set his sights on Dricus Du Plessis.

Belal Muhammad reveals his plans to defeat Dricus Du Plessis

Never one to back down from a challenge, Belal Muhammad is now looking at something a lot bigger than just defending his welterweight belt. After witnessing Dricus Du Plessis smash Sean Strickland at UFC 312, Muhammad appears to be seriously considering a switch to middleweight to face the South African champion. With ‘Stillknocks’ likely to face Khamzat Chimaev next, Muhammad is already mapping out how he would handle a fight against the reigning middleweight king.

In a recent post on X, Muhammad detailed how he planned to dismantle Du Plessis inside the Octagon. ‘Remember the name’ described how the fight would go, foreseeing that the South African fighter would become frustrated, make foolish mistakes, and eventually succumb to a submission in the third round. He tweeted, “I’d come out at him with a 1-2, then he’d wing an overhand. I’ll duck it, change levels, and take him down. Then he’d shrimp and get the underhook to get out, but he’ll be too weak to get up, so then I’ll hit him with ground and pound for the rest of round 1.”

Muhammad’s shift to 185 pounds adds an intriguing spice to the middleweight title situation. With Khamzat Chimaev as Du Plessis’ next likely opponent and Nassourdine Imavov also in the mix, a champion-versus-champion matchup might be another huge UFC blockbuster. It is unclear whether Dana White would be open to Dricus Du Plessis. What do you think? Will he be able to defeat the middleweight champion? Let us know in the comments.