Belal Muhammad has faced growing criticism about the game plan and strategy he used in a loss to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 that cost him the welterweight title.
In the days and weeks leading up to the event, Muhammad repeatedly stated he wanted to show off his “Canelo hands” and prove his boxing could go up against anybody — including a known knockout artist like Della Maddalena. During his rise up the ranks, Muhammad displayed incredible wrestling and constant pressure that allowed him to largely maul his competition. Despite going for nine takedowns during the fight, he’s being slammed for the way he approached the matchup against the Australian slugger.
UFC legend Matt Brown vehemently disagrees with the notion that Muhammad’s loss really comes down to poor game planning because that totally negates what Della Maddalena did to shut him down.
“It’s almost an irrelevant question because it didn’t matter what his game plan was,” Brown explained on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Jack had an answer for everything that he did.
“Yeah, if you’re on Belal’s camp, you’re probably looking back saying OK, we probably could have game planned differently but it’s hard to imagine that would have changed anything. When you go back to the drawing board for Belal, you’ve got a lot of drawing to do when you’re looking at a Jack Della Maddalena fight.”
Because the fight largely played out on the feet, Della Maddalena was able to win many of the biggest exchanges with his superior boxing, length and power. While Muh
