UFC Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria has plenty of foes in MMA's leading promotion, and it appears another titleholder in Belal Muhammad just joined the list.
Topuria completed his ascent to the mountaintop at 145 pounds this past March, knocking out all-time great Alexander Volkanovski to extend his perfect promotional and professional records in violent fashion.
The Georgian-Spaniard marked the third new divisional champion of the year, and the fourth came five months later when Muhammad unseated Leon Edwards from the welterweight throne in Manchester, England.
But while they both joined the champs' club in 2024, the two haven't exactly been bonding over their newfound title glory...
A video recently surfaced on social media showing Topuria backing Shavkat Rakhmonov to defeat Muhammad. The pair were recently confirmed as the headliners for the UFC 310 pay-per-view in Las Vegas this December.
"Remember the Name" didn't take too kindly to the prediction, mocking his featherweight counterpart for purchasing his own BMF belt ahead of his showdown with the symbolic title's current owner, Max Holloway, at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi later this month.
That caused a back and forth between the pair, with "El Matador" taking aim at Muhammad's UFC record and personal life alongside a video of him in the aftermath of an eye poke against Edwards back in 2021.
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"NO FINISHES NO KNOCKOUTS NO KNOCKDOWNS NO GIRLFRIEND NO KIDS BELAL HAS NEVER FINISHED ANY MAN OR WOMAN"
Muhammad hit back by accusing Topuria of copying well-known "memes" instead of coming up with his own retorts.
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"Now ur just copying stuff word for word off memes," Muhammad responded.
While his heated exchanges with Holloway will soon be settled inside the Octagon — and disagreements with the likes of Sean O'Malley could be down the line — the gulf in weight between Topuria and Muhammad means this battle will likely remain in the internet realm.
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