The middleweight division has seen a lot of action lately; what with Israel Adesanya going on a three-fight losing skid, the build-up for the UFC 312 main event featuring a rematch between champion Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland, and the rise of new contenders such as Caio Borralho and Khamzat Chimaev. What about the welterweight division? There was just one welterweight title fight last year at UFC 304 in July, whereas 2024 saw two middleweight title fights; one at UFC 297 in January, and the other at UFC 305 in August. The reason? Belal Muhammad was supposed to face Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 in December but had to pull out due to a bone injury as a result of a staph infection.

Meanwhile, the UFC’s official social media handle has revealed that the promotion will return to Canada, with an event in Montreal at UFC 315, set for May 10. Reacting to the revelation, Belal Muhammad, took to his X handle to respond to the post with a single ‘eye’ emoji. It’s clear that ‘Remember the Name’ wants to fight in Montreal for his comeback fight and first title defense. The Arab American fighter recently stated that he will give Shavkat Rakhmonov a chance to fight for the title as soon as the holy month of Ramadan is over: “Right after Ramadan, I think May or June would be the perfect timeline for me.”

He further added, “I started last week training with those guys down in Vegas. That was a nice shock to the body. It got me awoken. It let me know, ‘All right, we’ve got to get in shape-shape. So it just feels good to be training. I was at the PI. I was doing therapy everyday over there, so my body is finally getting back to normal and finally getting back to where it was.”

Two things about this event: 1) This would mark the promotion’s return to the city of Montreal after 10 years, where the last event held was UFC 186 featuring Demetrious Johnson and Kyoji Horiguchi in the main event. 2) If Belal Muhammad indeed gets to fight on this card, it would mark 9 months since the last welterweight title fight in the promotion. We’ll just have to wait and see if Dana White obliges the welterweight champion. Furthermore, no bouts have been added to the card yet.

It’s no secret that Belal Muhammad is one of the more underappreciated fighters in the promotion, regularly meeting the boos of fans whether the camera cuts to him at live events, or he’s winning a fight in the Octagon. And fan reactions to his response to the UFC’s post reflected the same sentiment. Let’s take a look.

Belal Muhammad’s comeback post gets a rough response from the MMA community

The city of Montreal has been itching for a fight for decades now, and given Muhammad’s unpopularity, fans were quick to deride the welterweight champion and write off the bout. It didn’t help that the last card held there featured the beloved ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson (despite him being unpopular by company standards). Hence, comments like, “10 years since they’ve been in Montreal… if they decided to put this bum as the main event I’ll km.” and, “That’s what it’s gonna be lmao watch this card be horrible.” started pouring in.

Furthermore, another social media user called out Belal Muhammad for boring fights, “Ahh yes just what the Montreal card needs…. A f—-n snooze fest with the decision merchant himself @bullyb170.”  But Muhammad wasn’t the only fighter in angry fans’ crosshairs, ad the supposed contender Shavkat Rakhmonov met the ire of this one fan who commented, “I feel bad for the people of Montreal waiting 10 years for a UFC event just to see Shavkat Rakhmonov stink the place out.”

And you could be certain that it didn’t stop there, as more criticism towards Belal Muhammad kept pouring in like, “Lol the one time we get a card we’re gonna get f—-n belal as the main event …. You can’t script this.” Despite this event being officially announced with fights, one fan already wrote it off, “Somehow this is already beating ufc 312 for worst card of the year on paper. A Belal main event with a bunch of awful Canadian soy boys on the card is sure to be terrible.”

So what do you think? Do you think Belal Muhammad will defend his belt against Shavkat Rakhmonov at this year’s UFC Montreal event? Sound off in the comments below.