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Belal Muhammad recently shared details of his preparations leading up to his UFC Vegas 51 main event clash against Vicente Luque, discussing how he worked around the eating restrictions while observing Ramadan. 'Remember The Name' revealed that some of his teammates decided to train with him despite his unusual schedule.
According to Muhammad, some teammates from his tight-knit gym would train with him after 9:30 pm even though they had other commitments in the morning. The 33-year-old recently told ESPN MMA's Marc Raimondi:
"You don't know how hard you can push your body until you actually have to push your body. The first week of Ramadan, I got to spend it with my family, I had teammates that fasted with me, that pushed through with me, they're like, 'Yo, we're gonna train with you.' And they didn't have too... We're a small gym but we're like a little family."
As a devout Muslim, Muhammad would only have two meals a day - before daybreak and after sunrise. The UFC welterweight revealed that he spared himself the fasting on the days of the weigh-in and the fight.
While the evening meal, iftar, usually consists of festive meals, Muhammad had to be careful with what he consumed. He further told Raimondi:
"So the day of the weigh in and the day of the fight, I'm able to make those days up... The other days are just being very smart at night. Because you know a lot of Ramadan is, when it's time to eat you eat whatever's in front of you... A lot of people use it as an excuse to eat bad... For me it was more like eating smart, eating food that's gonna digest easily, food that's gonna give me energy to train the next day... Then every night I'm having to drink enough water to where I can sweat and get through the training sessions."
Watch Belal Muhammad's interview with ESPN MMA below:
Belal Muhammad now ranks among the top 5 UFC welterweights
Belal Muhammad scored a dominant decision win over Vicente Luque in the main event at UFC Vegas 51. Coming off a decision win over Stephen Thompson in December 2021, this was Muhammad's second high-profile win in a row.
The newly updated rankings saw Belal Muhammad jump a spot from No.6 to No.5 on the UFC welterweight ladder. 'Remember The Name' now has the who's who of the 170 lbs division ahead of him in Gilbert Burns, Khamzat Chimaev, Colby Covington and Leon Edwards. Currently unbeaten in his last eight fights, Muhammad is likely one win away from a title shot.
Following his win over Luque, Muhammad called out former interim champion Colby Covington. Covington is coming off a unanimous decision win over Jorge Masvidal and currently occupies the No.1 spot in the rankings.
