UFC: Belal Muhammad decries ‘drunken hick screaming racist words’ in win over ‘Wonderboy’, and demands a title shot
- Palestinian-American says he was verbally harassed during his UFC Vegas 45 win over Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson
- Muhammad insists he deserves next crack at welterweight champ Kamaru Usman after convincing unanimous decision win
Belal Muhammad picked up the biggest win of his career at UFC Vegas 45 on Saturday night – despite the best efforts of a heckler in the crowd.
Muhammad, 33, returned to action in the card’s co-main event, taking on two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, 38. Muhammad entered the Octagon inside the UFC Apex facility as a significant betting underdog, but used relentless pressure and deftly timed takedowns to earn a lopsided unanimous decision victory.
The win was all the more impressive considering Muhammad also had to contend with the virulent remarks of an ill-behaved spectator.
“It was some drunk hick, screaming out racist Arabic words,” Muhammad, who was born in Chicago to Palestinian parents, said at the UFC Vegas 45 post-fight press conference. “I was like, ‘Wonderboy’, are these your boys? He’s like ‘no, they aren’t my boys’. I was like, ‘all right, cool’, and kept punching him.”
“It’s a small [venue] so you hear everything,” he added. “It was weird.”
While Muhammad did not expect to be harassed by a spectator in Las Vegas, the fight itself went more or less as he envisioned.
“I thought it was going to happen that way,” he said. “I’ve been saying for a long time I belong with the top guys. I need to fight the top guys in the world. I’m a top contender in the world and I proved it tonight, the way I beat him.”