Belal Muhammad

Belal Muhammad is an American-Palestinian mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division of the UFC, fighting under the nickname "Remember The Name."

Muhammad was raised in Chicago, Illinois, by Palestinian parents. He wrestled at Bogan High School under coach Louis Taylor, and went on to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with plans to attend law school. Seeing his former coach pursue a career in professional fighting redirected Muhammad toward mixed martial arts, and he turned professional in 2012 before signing with the UFC in 2016.

He holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has trained at Roufusport in Milwaukee under coach Mike Valle, while maintaining ties to the Chicago Fight Team, where his amateur career began.

Inside the cage, Muhammad is known as a grinder, built on relentless forward pressure, granular wrestling and elite conditioning rather than knockout power. He works to break opponents down over the course of a fight, smothering their offense and wearing down their will through pace and positional control.

Across more than a decade competing in the UFC, Muhammad built his case as a title contender with wins over a series of ranked welterweights, including Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Sean Brady and Gilbert Burns. After an initial meeting with Leon Edwards ended in a no-contest, Muhammad earned a rematch and defeated Edwards by unanimous decision at UFC 304 in Manchester to capture the UFC welterweight championship.

In doing so, Muhammad became the first fighter of Palestinian descent to win a UFC title, a milestone he has described as bigger than himself and representative of his family and community. A former UFC welterweight champion, he remains one of the division's defining grinders and a source of pride for Palestinian and Arab-American fans of the sport.