If a fighter wants to be a fan favorite in MMA, just racking up wins is not enough. Fans demand those wins to be exciting, whether it’s a sleek submission, dominant ground and pound, or, best of all, a knockout. Anybody who relies too much on judges is dismissed as boring, often trolled and hated for playing it safe. UFC welterweight and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teammate, Belal Muhammad, unfortunately, falls in the latter category for many fans.

Making his UFC debut back in 2016, Muhammad has amassed an impressive resume with wins over the likes of Gilbert Burns, Vicente Luque, and Stephen Thompson. But regardless of these feats, the American-born fighter continues to be a target of trolls for his fighting style. Most of the time, the trolling stays on the internet, but sometimes it transitions to the real world.

UFC fan dismisses Belal Muhammad at UFC 291 meet and greet

During a recent meet and greet event before UFC 291, a bizarre incident was witnessed. At the event, many fighters, including Belal Muhammad, were present to interact with the fans. One of those interactive opportunities was to take a picture with the UFC’s newly revealed legacy belt.

Why do I feel kind of bad for Belal in this vid
by u/BankerCheese in ufc

At the time of the said incident, Muhammad was standing next to the belt when a fan stepped in to take a picture. Usually, fans do not spare a chance to take pictures with a UFC fighter. But, on the contrary, this fan asked ‘Remember the Name’ to step aside to take a picture with the belt alone.

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Whether this was an attempt at trolling or just an innocent move isn’t clear. But this surely comes off as impolite and ignorant. These kinds of antics are nothing new to the sport of MMA. Recently, Muhammad’s fellow welterweight, Kevin Holland, was grabbed inappropriately by a fan. Fortunately, just like Muhammad, Holland kept his calm during the incident. Compared to that, this incident looks relatively harmless.

Fans react to the ‘disrespectful’ incident

As with most things on the internet, this video clip found its way onto Reddit. Belal Muhammad isn’t a fan favorite, and it’s no secret. But despite this fact, fans across the board came out in his support with their reactions. Some of the selected ones are as follows:

• This. Guys seems pretty cool. The hate towards him makes me like him even more.
• “He better chill before he gets UD’d.”
• “The thing is, dude, I’m not even a fan of Belal, but that dude’s a dipsh*t lmfao. He probably did that and felt like a savage, but he came off dorky as hell.”
• “Jokes on that dork… he definitely stood in line for hours to do this. Loser.”

Some fans gave props to Muhammad for the way he handled the situation.

• “Belal was respectful; he moved and let him.”
• “Regardless of his fighting style, Belal is a cool guy.”
• “Belal is a good dude; I get tired of the disrespect people show for fighters tbh.”

Muhammad is one of the top welterweights at the moment and very much in line for a title shot. Currently unbooked for a fight, he last fought Gilbert Burns on short notice in May. With any luck, fans can see him make the walk to the Octagon once more this year.

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