Coach Louis Taylor recently shared his thoughts on Belal Muhammad potentially fighting Sean Strickland in the cage and claimed that fighters outside the UFC could present a strong challenge to the promotion's champions.
Over the past few months, Muhammad and Strickland have fired shots at each other on social media. While Strickland is known for having an outspoken personality, it appears Muhammad isn't a fan of his unfiltered nature and took offense at 'Tarzan' criticizing him for his stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Given the bad blood between the two, many have wondered if they'd settle their differences in the cage. In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Muhammad's coach, Louis Taylor, addressed a potential fight and said:
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"That is [a] 185-pound fight I welcome. You know, Sean has really taken a dump on Palestinians and a lot of other people, I'm not gonna go down that list. Belal's not that guy who you have gotta watch in the streets... but when it comes to people like Sean, that powder keg can erupt at any time, and therefore, I'd rather it happens where we get paid for it in the cage."
Taylor also addressed Dricus du Plessis' successful title defense against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 earlier this month and stated that he wasn't impressed with what he saw from both fighters. He stated:
"I wasn't impressed with either fighter and no disrespect to those guys but there was a lot of sloppy everything in that fight... If you're a competitor in the 185-pound weight class who can wrestle and who can strike, you should be salivating at the mouth right now cause' that title is up in the air."
Catch Louis Taylor's comments below (11:34):
When Belal Muhammad explained his feud with "piece of trash" Sean Strickland
In May, Belal Muhammad addressed his rivalry with Sean Strickland and brutally slammed the former middleweight champion for his insensitive comments about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
During an interview on the Money Loyalty Legacy podcast, Muhammad brought up Strickland's emotional interview with Theo Von and pointed out the hypocrisy behind his thinking patterns. He said:
“Honestly, I had no care about him at all until I posted something about Palestine… He commented on there, saying they [Palestinians] should just give up. It was the stupidest statement ever, just to get attention."
Muhammad continued:
“Recently where he was crying on Theo Von about his dad and, ‘You can’t talk about my dad. Don’t bring up family. That’s dirty when you do it.’ You’re literally talking about kids that just got bombed, kids that are dying, and you’re making a joke of it, but when it comes back to you, it shows he has a fake, tough-guy mentality.”
Catch Belal Muhammad's comments below (16:09):