Belal Muhammad responds after being labeled a “fake champion” by Ilia Topuria

Belal Muhammad has issued a response in the wake of being called a fake champion by UFC star Ilia Topuria.

Earlier this year, Belal Muhammad produced a masterful performance to become the new UFC welterweight champion. He did so by dominating Leon Edwards, picking up what many considered to be one of the most dominant title wins of the year thus far.

RELATED: UFC featherweight champ Ilia Topuria sends scathing response to Conor McGregor: “I’ll slap these nuts on his forehead”

Now, he’s turning around and defending the strap against Shavkat Rakhmonov on the final UFC PPV of the year. Regardless of whether you love him or hate him, nobody can deny the impact he’s had as of late.

Someone who isn’t a fan, however, is Ilia Topuria. The featherweight king recently took to social media and claimed that Muhammad would be easy work for a returning Kamaru Usman. As you can imagine, that led to a bit of a back and forth.

Didn’t this dork just buy a fake bmf belt to pose with.. he’s starting to become the Georgian version of Coby Covington

— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) October 13, 2024

NO FINISHES
NO KNOCKOUTS
NO KNOCKDOWNS
NO GIRLFRIEND
NO KIDS
BELAL HAS NEVER FINISHED ANY MAN OR WOMAN 😂 https://t.co/k3U9rcpNYH

— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) October 13, 2024

Muhammad goes back at Topuria

“Didn’t this dork just buy a fake bmf belt to pose with.. he’s starting to become the Georgian version of Colby Covington.”

Just a few hours later, Topuria took things to a new level.

“NO FINISHES, NO KNOCKOUTS, NO KNOCKDOWNS, NO GIRLFRIEND, NO KIDS. BELAL HAS NEVER FINISHED ANY MAN OR WOMAN.”

Something tells us that this isn’t going to be the last time we hear words exchanged between these two. For the time being, though, they both have incredibly important fights to focus on in the UFC.

Who do you side with in this particular argument – Belal Muhammad or Ilia Topuria? Do you believe that both men will end the year as champion and if not, who out of them will lose the strap? Let us know your thoughts, BJPENN Nation!