UFC analyst: Belal Muhammad's no-takedown claim for UFC 315 fight 'hard to envision'

USA Today

07-05-2025

UFC analyst: Belal Muhammad's no-takedown claim for UFC 315 fight 'hard to envision'
Belal Muhammad claims he's "not gonna shoot one takedown' in Saturday's UFC 315 title defense against Jack Della Maddalena, but does anyone believe him?
The current welterweight champion Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) is beaming with confidence going into his attempted first defense against challenger Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in the main event at Bell Centre in Montreal (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Although Muhammad has been bold throughout his career, his track record has yet to match up with this particular assertion. He has attempted at least one takedown in 15 of his 19 octagon appearances, however, two of those performances without an attempt have come in two of his past three fights.
Does that mean Muhammad will actually follow through and show Della Maddalena "the meaning of Canelo hands" then they step in the cage? UFC analyst Michelle Waterson-Gomez said she struggles to see it.
"It's kind of hard to envision because Belal is not the type of fighter to take risks and switch it up, just because he wants too," Waterson-Gomez told MMA Junkie. "Especially as a champion. That's high risk. You want to be the reigning champion, you want to be able to defend that belt. I just think habitually as fighters we do try to switch it up so that we can cater to one opponent or the other, but eventually we revert back to what we are comfortable with because we know what we have to do in order to win.
"How I see Belal winning is in that grappling exchanges, in his clinch work against the cage, and right there in that wedge between the cage and the ground. That's where I see him winning. Maybe he's trying to bait JDM into a getting into a slug fest so that it's easy to change levels on him and close the distance and put him against the cage. But who knows?"
Waterson-Gomez said she won't complete discount the possibility of Muhammad leaning heavily on his striking at UFC 315. Is it his best path to victory on paper against a dangerous knockout threat like Della Maddalena? Conventional wisdom would suggest not, but Muhammad's entire rise to becoming UFC champion has been filled with moments of exceeding expectations.
With Muhammad routinely training with Waterson-Gomez's former coach Mike Valle, who was named MMA Junkie's Coach of the Year in 2024, she doesn't want to rule out the champ's prediction is impossible. However, if Muhammad wants to find the path of least resistance, then mixing up his game would be the most advisable path.
"Belal's training with one of my old striking coaches in Mike Valle and he is an amazing striking coach," Waterson-Gomez said. "Maybe Mike Valle has been working on some striking combinations or some things. We're all constantly evolving and growing and when you learn something cool inside training and want to show the world, that's the fun part. I did it training, now see if I can do it under the lights when it counts."
To hear more from Waterson-Gomez, check out her complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above.