"For a game of madden?" - Belal Muhammad's "yes" to Sean Strickland triggers hilarious responses

Newly crowned middleweight champion Sean Strickland has received a challenge from the least expected source in UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad.

Strickland shocked the world when he upset now-former two-time champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 a few weeks ago. However, he may have been surprised as No.3-ranked welterweight Muhammad posted cryptically that he had said yes to Strickland.

"I said yes to Strickland"

Fans were certainly surprised as they joked in the replies to Muhammad's post on X (formerly known as Twitter):

"For a game of madden?"

"did he propose to you? How cute"

"Will Strickland say yes?"

"That's haram brother"

While other fans called his bluff and refused to believe the post:

"Yes I’m very sure the match makers offered you a middleweight title shot"

"I call cap on this"

"Belal trying so hard to get his impressions up lol"

Some fans responded seriously to Belal Muhammad and debated between a welterweight title shot or a potential move up:

"Aint nobody offering you a title fight stop the cap"

"They won’t even give you a welterweight shot let alone a middleweight lol but I really hope you beat Usman bro you deserve that shot no doubt"

Check out the fan comments in the screenshots below:

Fans comment on Belal Muhammad's post.

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Khamzat Chimaev praises Sean Strickland as deserving champion

A welterweight who is certainly moving up to the middleweight division is UFC sensation Khamzat Chimaev when he takes on former challenger Paulo Costa at UFC 294.

Khamzat Chimaev intends to take the middleweight division by storm and already has his sights trained on new champion Sean Strickland.

In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Chimaev showed respect to 'Tarzan' and showered praise on him for being a dedicated professional:

“Now it’s my time. To smash that guy [Paulo Costa]. Then it doesn’t matter if it’s Izzy [Israel Adesanya] or [Sean] Strickland or somebody else, we’re coming for them. Strickland! Coming for him. If you stay there, man, coming for you too. Worked hard, deserves it. The guy was always in the gym, now he gets the belt. He has a good team, good coach. I have been there, trained with that guy. I think they deserve that belt. He has been active, fights with everybody."

Khamzat Chimaev previously trained with Sean Strickland last year alongside former UFC fighter Darren Till.

Check out Chimaev's full comments below [3:40]: