Bartles & Jaymes thanks you for your support … Belal Muhammad does not.
The reigning UFC welterweight champion will make his first 170-pound title defense when he collides with No. 5-ranked contender Jack Della Maddalena atop the UFC 315 pay-per-view (PPV) fight card on May 15 inside Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Muhammad (24-3) is a sizable betting favorite to retain his title at UFC 315 with both fans and fellow fighters picking him to win. But “Remember the Name” prefers to have an “underdog mentality” so that he maintains his work ethic during training camp.
“I’m like bro, go back, get away from me, I don’t want the fans,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “I want the doubters, I want the people to tell me I’m going to lose because it just makes me work that much harder. But that’s why I have the circle around me, the teammates around me that keep me level-headed. There is no easy fight in this game, there is no easy win, as people will say it or the fans will say it.”
The hard-hitting Maddalena (17-2) has double-digit knockouts.
“In my head, I’m going against the best striker in the world,” Muhammad continued. “In my head, I’m going against Canelo Alvarez, so I’ve got to train like I’m going against those guys so I don’t look past him, and I don’t take my foot off the gas. I’m still having that underdog mentality. For me, it’s not defending the belt. It’s still fighting for the belt again, it’s still remembering that it took me this long to get my title shot, it took me this long to get noticed by anybody. I’m not going to let it go. He’s not going to take it from me.”
Maddalena was originally scheduled to face Leon Edwards at UFC London but the promotion pulled the Aussie from the overseas fight card (after Shavkat Rakhmonov went down with injury) and replaced him with submission specialist Sean Brady.
Brady stopped Edwards by guillotine choke.
The winner of Muhammad vs. Maddalena is expected to face Rakhmonov later this year. That said, whoever prevails in this upcoming welterweight headliner could also lay claim to the next 170-pound title shot, depending on the recovery timeline for “Nomad.”
To see who else is fighting at UFC 315 click here.
