Belal Muhammad is planning to train with Khabib Nurmagomedov and his team for a potential upcoming title fight against Leon Edwards.
Muhammad has grown close with Nurmagomedov’s contingent since the former lightweight king’s active days, as they had the same manager in Ali Abdelaziz. Muhammad is now planning to travel to Dagestan to prepare for Edwards.
“I’m planning for sure to go to Dagestan and train with those guys, like you said, to get a new look, to get different feels,” Muhammad told MMAjunkie.com. “Those guys don’t let you take any days off or any easy rounds. That’s always perfect for me. Last time I trained with those guys, we got a dominant finish and I plan to do the same thing.”
The late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov is credited with setting up a training system that has produced numerous world class fighters from the region over the years with his son and current UFC lightweight champ Islam Makhachev leading the way. While he is always drilling hard, Muhammad detailed why training is Dagestan in different from training in the United States.
“A lot of their stuff that we do when we go live or we go hard is like we’re working. Over here, I do a lot of specific drilling with my team, my guys here,” Muhammad said. “When it’s over there, I’ve got to be ready to go. I’ve got to be ready to be in shape. It’s an uncomfortable feeling. A lot of these guys, they’re not who I’m with every single day. So every round is a lot harder. Every round feels like it’s a new fight. I think that’s an advantage for me because with a lot of these fighters, you don’t get that uncomfortable feeling until you get to fight night where it’s like, ‘Alright, now it’s finally here. I’ve been thinking about this guy for a month.’ You’ve had looks, but you haven’t had the specific guy who’s in front of you right now.
“For me, when I’m over there with those guys, every single one of those guys is a beast and they all have their own style. Every round, you have that uncomfortable feeling of butterflies in your stomach. Here, when I go with my guys, my teammates, you know who’s a hard round. You know what they do. You see them every day. You know what they’re good at. You know what they’re not good at. It’s more of a calm feeling. But when you go with somebody new, somebody different, a new training partner, it gives you that ‘all right’ in your chest a little bit. It makes you go that much harder. It makes you go that much harder. It makes you get a little bit more tired. It makes you have to think more on your feet.”
Muhammad’s rumored title bout against Edwards has not been announced by the promotion, but it is currently expected to take place at UFC 300.
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