Belal Muhammad is one of the lesser-liked fighters in the UFC. After all, fans always appreciate a fighter like a Michael Chandler or former UFC star star Matt Brown, who may not be the best technically, but are willing to go in the octagon and put it all on the line. And for most of his career, ‘Bully B’ has been a far cry from that type of fighter.

In fact, he has been quite the opposite. While technically brilliant and possessing excellent wrestling, the Chicago native’s proclivity for decisions and having fights, some of which have been called “boring”, are two points that he has long been criticized for by fans.

And while Belal Muhammad absolutely and shockingly dominated Leon Edwards in their UFC 304 clash to become the new welterweight champion, it has not really led to an explosion in his popularity as it did for, say, Sean Strickland last year. Why? Well Matt Brown, in an Exclusive interview with ES, opined it has more to do with ‘Bully B’s personality and knack for making outrageous, unbelievable statements than his fighting style.

“If you wanna judge on personality, you know he says things that, I say are controversial. But it’s not even controversial sometimes, just silly sometimes, just kind of off the wall. Like you know, that’s not true type of stuff, you know. He doesn’t have an appealing personality to the masses. I’m sure there’s a niche out there but he’s not appealing to the masses and that’s why he’s underrated. It’s all it is,” Brown said while talking to ES. And there is no better example of what Brown has said than a tweet ‘Bully B’ sent out earlier this month.

Belal Muhammad proves Matt Brown’s point with outrageous take on next opponent

Whenever a new champion is crowned in the UFC, the first question everyone and their grandma asks is: who will be their next opponent? Especially if there is no clear number-one contender. Naturally, everyone is curious about who Belal Muhammad’s first title defense will be against.

The two clear front-runners at the moment are former champion Kamaru Usman and undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov, who’s stopped every opponent he has ever faced. But, in perhaps the clearest example of what Brown was referring to in his aforementioned comments, Muhammad had a hot take. In fact, a very hot take.

Responding to UFC lead play-by-play commentator Jon Anik (who made a case for Rakhmonov’s title shot), Belal Muhammad tweeted that Tony Ferguson, of all people, deserved a title shot over ‘Nomad’! Of course, Ferguson is on an eight-fight losing streak and literally everyone, including UFC CEO Dana White wants him to retire. ‘Bully B’ couldn’t have picked a worse name and it is really difficult to believe that even Muhammad himself believes this.

Comments like this one are exactly why Brown feels Belal Muhammad is so unpopular among fans, and based on the egregiousness of the champ’s hot take, it is difficult to disagree. What are your thoughts on Matt Brown’s diagnosis about Belal Muhammad’s unpopularity?