"Strickland was going on his crybaby rants" - Belal Muhammad reacts to Dricus du Plessis facing Sean Strickland instead of Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 312 

Belal Muhammad recently voiced his opinions about Sean Strickland's election over Khamzat Chimaev as Dricus Du Plessis' UFC 312 rival. Muhammad's words clarified that he wasn't too pleased with the UFC brass's decision.

Du Plessis seized the UFC middleweight gold from Strickland via a controversial split decision victory at UFC 297. However, a large chunk of fans including Dana White adjudged 'Tarzan' as the rightful victor of the fight. Since then, Strickland has been rampant in his callouts of a rematch, which finally came to fruition a few days back.

On the other hand, Chimaev's dominant victory over Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 had a large chunk of fans rallying to watch him as Du Plessis' next title defense rival. But his victory didn't prove to be enough to earn him the title shot before Strickland.

Belal Muhammad appeared on the latest episode of the Anik & Florian Podcast where he mentioned that he would've loved to watch Chimaev take on Du Plessis at UFC 312 instead of Strickland. Muhammad also stated that Strickland's "crybaby rants" ultimately earned him the rematch against Du Plessis.

"I think they [UFC authorities] could have [fixed Du Plessis vs. Chimaev for the UFC 312 main event], I wish they would've [fixed it]. Because I feel [Chimaev is] like Umar [Nurmagomedov], he deserves it [a title shot], especially after what he did to Whittaker. And I know they [UFC authorities] were trying to say that they promised it to Strickland since Strickland was going out on his crybaby rants and saying that he's gonna sit out, no matter what, he deserves it [a rematch against Du Plessis]."

Check out Jon Anik and Belal Muhammad's conversation below (26:44):

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Dricus Du Plessis and Belal Muhammad are on same page in their choice for next title shot contender

Dricus Du Plessis never showcased any hesitancy in accepting the rematch against Sean Strickland as his next title defense fight. But the South African's words in a previous interview with TMZ Sports clarified that he supported Belal Muhammad's narrative regarding who his next rival should be.

Like Muhammad, Du Plessis had also mentioned that Khamzat Chimaev should be his next title defense rival after the superb performance he put up against Whittaker at UFC 308. 'Stillknocks' also doubled down on his take recently after accepting the rematch against Strickland as his next challenge. His X update read:

"Just for clarification I preferred the Khamzat fight but the rematch is a fight most wanted before Khamzat vs Withaker. I’m not unhappy with the UFC’s decision like I said I’ll fight the man fans think is the next best guy he was promised the fight so Strickland it is."