Belal Muhammad will walk to the octagon with the Palestinian flag on his back as he prepares to defend his welterweight title for the first time at UFC 315 in Montreal on May 10.
While he has carried the flag with him in previous fights, there was some question about whether or not he would be allowed after the flag was briefly removed from his UFC profile. The flag was later restored with Muhammad stating that it was just a mistake that the UFC quickly rectified.
âYeah, 100 percent,â Muhammad told MMA Fighting about walking out with the Palestinian flag. âWeâve talked about it and theyâve accepted it. Nothing is going to stop me from doing it.â
Muhammad, whose parents hail from Palestine, has been very outspoken about the ongoing conflict there ever since fighting first occurred. Heâs run fundraisers and shown his support for Palestine through interviews and social media.
He plans to do the same in the days leading up to his fight against Jack Della Maddalena.
âItâs hard, especially right now,â Muhammad said. âItâs been over two years now where theyâre dying, theyâre starving, the people over there are in so much pain. The worldâs just watching it. The worldâs just coming up with excuses for it. Itâs wild.â
As much as defending the UFC title means to him, Muhammad promises heâs always going to be fighting for something bigger, especially with reports that people living in the Gaza strip have had no medicine, fuel or food transported there for the past 60 days.
Despite the harrowing conditions, Muhammad revealed previously that he still received messages of support and congratulations after he won his UFC title this past July. That has served as even more motivation for him ahead of the title fight at UFC 315.
âFor me, it just makes me want to work that much harder for them,â Muhammad said. âIt makes me go to the gym, run that extra mile, lift that extra weight. Because I canât lose. Thereâs no way Iâm going to let the people see me not get my hand raised. When they see me fight that day, theyâre going to see that flag get raised When they see me win that day, theyâre going to see that flag get raised. Theyâre going to see me get on the mic and talk about them. Theyâre going to see me get on the mic and be a voice for them.
âThe only way I can be their voice is by continuing to win. I just have to keep continuing to work, keep continuing to push it and itâs all in godâs hands. God has a plan for everything and Iâm hoping this finally comes to an end soon.â
As much as heâs focused on his upcoming fight, Muhammad says the people in Palestine are never far from his mind, which is why heâs spent just as much time trying to bring attention whatâs happening there as heâs done building anticipation for his return on May 10.
Thatâs another reason why Muhammad was so adamant about carrying the flag with him to the octagon so he can continue to represent the people of Palestine on the biggest stage possible.
âLike I said, Iâve just been getting so many messages, people just wanting to know whatâs happening there because they see me carrying that flag and what it means and what it means to me,â Muhammad said. âIf youâre human, you want to know whatâs going on there. If youâre human and you see it and you ignore it, youâre not really human. You donât have a soul. If you can see kids starving, if you see kids dying, if you see all their suffering and you just turn your head away, look at yourself in the mirror and really ask yourself: What would you do if those people were from a different country? What would I do if those people werenât Arab? What would I do if those people werenât this color?
âJust so many people out here that are afraid to speak up, afraid to say something, afraid to do anything because theyâre afraid of the consequences. There shouldnât be consequences for being human.â
Has he ever even been there?
EpicEd
Free Palestine.
He needs attention in any way possible since heâs boring as fuck, kinda dumb and ugly as sin.
Please President Trump Send that Remember the Name guy to Palestine
Isnât this faggot born and raised in Chicago?
Yea, so he knows how hard it is to live in a shithole
I searched around for an answer to this and it looks like itâs no.
If every Israeli and Palestinian died right now the world would instantly be a significantly better place.
He should go there and promptly die.
Of course this faggot is going to come out with his Arab nazi flag? Heâs a boring piece of shit.
I definitely donât like the fact that theyâre Arab.
Arabs make everywhere they go worse.
Just a complete virus of people
And how do you think said Arabs get to those places in the first place? Hmmmm?
Progressive fag white liberals. I know
Yea they donât help either.
If anyone was promoting free Palestine or supporting Palestine so prominently before the attack on that isreal festival then i have no problem with them continuing to do it now.
However, the vast majority of these attention whores gave zero shits when it was just hamas making life a living hell for the people of Palestine so fuck off with you new found compassion for what goes on in the armpit of the world