ESPN commentator Daniel Cormier didn't remember his name last July after Belal "remembered" Muhammad won the UFC middleweight title.

"Ladies and gentlemen, give up for subweatherweight champion Leon Edwards!" Cormier announced at the end of his postwar interview with Mohammed (24-3, 1 NC) that he had just defeated Edwards at UFC 304 in Manchester, England through a unanimous decision.

This is Cormier's honest mistake, and he corrected it immediately. He has been saying the term “middleweight champion Leon Edwards” all week because Edwards is actually the champion in the accumulation of battle. But at the same time, the mix happens to be Muhammad, a UFC veteran who was greatly overlooked by fans and opponents during his rise.

"I don't need the world to believe me," Mohammad said later that night about the doubts he faced with others. "I don't need anyone to believe me. I don't need applause. My team and I know what we can, and now we are world champions." Muhammad, the first Palestinian American champion in UFC history, hopes to face Australian challenger Jack Delle Maddalena (17-2) on Saturday's defense against Australian challenger Jack Delle Maddalena (17-2) in a great-most-favorite moment-most-favorite welterweight, george setter, george, george sterter, george stere, george stere, that's a huge range. Muhammad expressed great respect for St-Pierre, who recently told the UFC that his fighting in the arena of GSP would be "surreal".

"That's the one who is considered a goat of your weight class," Mohamed said of St. Pierre. "The people you always look up to, you look, try to imitate."

But he wasn't secretly considered the best middleweight he's ever made.

"Goats are the target," Mohamed said. "I'm chasing GSP. I want to catch up with him."

He is already tied for fifth in the 15-year-old UFC middleweight history as it took him a long time to get to the belt. His lack of ending (sixth of 24 careers) hurts his mainstream appeal. This 25% completion rate has led to criticism from many fans, but in a recent interview, Mohamed predicted that the shutdown would be stopped on Saturday. As his first championship defense approaches, ESPN introduces Mohammed’s skills in the greatest and most outstanding middleweight squads of the past two decades, his cap as a champion and his potential sales abilities.

Georges St-Pierre, former middleweight and middleweight champion, nine championship defense

"Building a legacy is not overnight. It usually happens at the end of your career (as a champion), and he happens in the beginning, so he has a lot of time. Everything about him may be possible for him. What is (that star) star is charm. He is not the most shining.

"He broke the opponent mentally. What people don't understand is that when you beat a man mentally, when he accepts failure, he no longer struggles to win, he will work hard for not losing. When he doesn't beat it's hard (end) someone because he doesn't want to, because he won't impress him in most cases. When you play, you have to surprise him. The egg needs to be cracked to some extent.

Kamaru Usman, former middleweight champion, five champion defense

"Belal is just someone who is always around. I never really notice Belal because I'm doing what I need to do. Now I'm forced to really look at Belal, he's not bad. He's got good people everywhere and that's working all the time.

"Once I was forced to follow him, I started to see the antics going on outside the cage, and I was never that guy. ... Belal was another type of champion. He was willing to do memes, he was willing to be on social media because he wanted to follow. He was eager to get attention. Even if you were a lightweight or a flying guy, he was willing to get along with his class - just a willing - just a person, just my willing.

"I think he has the ability to rule for a long time, though. To have a stronghold on a division, you have to be good enough everywhere. In departments where you see champions turn over and over, there are usually some champions who lack some skill. When you look at someone like Matt Hughes, he can fight you, but he can fight you, and then you can stand with new young people. jab you, beat you.

Tyron Woodley, former middleweight champion, four championship defense

"I love Belal. Belal was a guy who once came to the Roufusport Stadium. When I became a champion, he would drive from Chicago to Milwaukee. I remember that during Ramadan (a month on the Islamic calendar, the Muslims quickly descended from the Islamic calendar to sunset to sunset, and he would not accept any attitude.

"I haven't seen him do that at that time, but when he made some changes and started training with (former lightweight champion) Khabib Nurmagomedov, I saw a shift. A person who believes in himself is dangerous. A lot of people are afraid of the fear of his opponents. When you start believing, it's a special person, like when I'm a champion, I drove a better robie than I am. A better striker than I am, and I feel like I can beat them in my own game.

In terms of gaining respect, at the end of the day, we are not athletes, we are entertainers. In our sport you have to fight with the toughest people on the planet, there are a lot of ways to lose, and then most importantly, you have to have sales. His motivation is because for me, I'm tired of just trying to prove everyone is wrong. ”

Dan Hardy, former middleweight champion challenger

“Unfortunately, I think his social media will stop him from retreating. … His campaign in Palestine will really kill a lot of his chances in the mainstream because some media won’t fall behind him, which is shameful, and that fits in with his title.

"The way he overcomes this is to start ending people. He needs to start being annoying. Like Nurmagomedov, he will talk to you when he beats you. It takes some fans to get fans inclined. When Usman is not too interesting, I'm happy to look at him and I'm happy to see what's next for him." Belal can change his shoulders.

"In his career as a fighter, all the ingredients are fused together at the right time, and I think he's winning the belt has helped him realize his potential. It doesn't have to find punching power, because everyone has a strong power. It's more technical. I want to insert some weapons in his box, if I insert some weapons in the box. You can cut them in many different ways, you don't need to be a devastating knockout round.