Belal Muhammad has a grim comparison for what he expects to see at UFC White House.
The lineup for the historical June 14 event is official, and reactions have been mixed, with some arguing that title fights at the top featuring stars Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira make it a strong card, while others have complained that the announced bouts failed to live up to the hype.
Reviewing the lineup on his YouTube channel, Muhammad believes that what has been booked is appropriate for the audience that will
be in attendance, which will strictly be comprised of high-ranking officials and VIPs, not the average UFC fan.
“Obviously, people are going to hate, people are going to argue, but they’re fighting at the White House,” Muhammad sasid. “I mean, it’s not open to the public, it’s not open to real fans. When I picture the people that are there watching, I picture, like, The Hunger Games. The first one when Katniss is at the tryout and all the rich, snobby people are at the top not paying attention to her and they’re just talking, and she had to shoot the arrow through the pig. That’s what I feel like it’s going to be.
“They’re just going to be not really paying attention to what’s happening in the cage. If they see a little blood, they don’t see knockouts, but they’re not real fans, so who cares? They get what they get.“
It’s not the kindest comparison, given that The Hunger Games is a science fiction parable depicting a dark future in which adolescents from poor districts are annually pitted against one another in a lethal competition for the amusement of the powerful and privileged. But Muhammad’s broader point is that he doesn’t expect President Donald Trump’s invited guests to necessarily be hardcore fight fans.
It’s Trump who is responsible for some of the backlash to the UFC White House lineup, as he previously stated the card would have “eight or nine championship fights.”
“My thoughts initially was surprised,” Muhammad said. “Definitely not the card that I thought they hyped up. You had Trump saying, ‘10 title fights.’ What is there, two title fights on there?”
Muhammad acknowledged that both June 14 title fights make sense, with lightweight champion Ilia Topuria facing interim champion Justin Gaethje in a unification bout, and Alex Pereira making a highly anticipated move up to heavyweight to fight Ciryl Gane for an interim belt, but that they weren’t exactly what fans wanted with names like Islam Makhachev and Jon Jones also rumored to be part of the card.
Numerous American fighters had stated their desire to be on the card, including Colby Covington, who has long touted himself as Trump’s favorite fighter. Muhammad is greatly amused by his exclusion.
“For somebody like Colby, who says that he’s Trump’s BFF and Trump loves him, Trump didn’t ask for him to be on the card,” Muhammad said. “So this dork is going back to RAF and wrestling Dillon Danis, who’s a jiu-jitsu guard puller, so that’s a funny one, funny matchup for RAF to make. Obviously, what’s-his-face tweets a lot of dumb stuff, so there may be buildup with that one, but for Colby to keep talking like he’s the man, it’s kind of funny that he wasn’t on the card.”
Muhammad’s next assignment sees him headline at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas as he takes on Gabriel Bonfim at a UFC Vegas event on June 6.
