By The Numbers: Belal Muhammad

Self-belief has never been an issue for Belal Muhammad.

The Roufusport product made a habit out of beating the odds, broke down one barrier at a time and laid claim to the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title with a five-round unanimous decision over Leon Edwards in the UFC 304 main event on July 27 in Manchester, England. Muhammad, now the toast of the 170-pound weight class, finds himself on a six-fight winning streak. He has not suffered a setback in more than five years.

As Muhammad awaits word from UFC matchmakers on his first title defense, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied him to this point:

36: Years of age for Muhammad, who was born in Chicago on July 9, 1988. Cheap Trick’s “The Flame,” Pebbles’ “Mercedes Boy,” Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” INXS’ “New Sensation” and Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana” were the Top 5 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 list at the time.

5: Muhammad victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 21% of his career total. His list of UFC victims: Sean Brady and Augusto Montano. Muhammad owns one other victory by submission (4%)—he dispatched Takashi Sato with a rear-naked choke at UFC 242 in 2019—and 18 more by decision (75%).

1,241: Significant strikes landed by Muhammad as a UFC welterweight, placing him fifth on the promotion’s all-time list at 170 pounds. Only Neil Magny (1,418), Kamaru Usman (1,334), Tim Means (1,262) and Georges St. Pierre (1,254) have connected with more.

43: Takedowns completed by Muhammad since he linked arms with the UFC. He has done so on 110 attempts, giving him a success rate of 39%.

11: Men besides Muhammad who have held the undisputed UFC welterweight championship. Edwards, Usman, St. Pierre (twice), Matt Hughes (twice) Tyron Woodley, Robbie Lawler, Johny Hendricks, Matt Serra, B.J. Penn, Carlos Newton and Pat Miletich are the others.

84: Rounds started by Muhammad as a professional mixed martial artist. He has involved the judges on 20 different occasions and carries an 18-2 record in those bouts.

13: Consecutive calendar years in which Muhammad has fought at least once. In addition to a 1-0 mark in 2024, he went 2-0 in 2012, 2-0 in 2013, 2-0 in 2014, 2-0 in 2015, 2-2 in 2016, 3-0 in 2017, 1-0 in 2018, 2-1 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020, 3-0 with one no contest in 2021, 2-0 in 2022 and 1-0 in 2023.

150,000: Dollars in post-fight bonuses pocketed by Muhammad across his 19 assignments in the UFC. He has been awarded “Performance of the Night” twice and “Fight of the Night” once.

4: Promotions for which Muhammad has plied his MMA trade. He has gone 15-3 with one no contest in the UFC, 4-0 in Hoosier Fight Club, 3-0 in Titan Fighting Championship and 2-0 in Bellator MMA.

.699: Cumulative winning percentage between the three opponents—Geoff Neal, Vicente Luque and Alan Jouban—who have beaten Muhammad. They sport a combined record of 54-23-1.