Palestinian-American wins UFC 236 preliminaries

Palestinian-American fighter Belal Muhammad soundly beat opponent Curtis Millender in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 236 preliminaries by unanimous decision in Atlanta last night.

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— UFC (@ufc) April 13, 2019

This will be the sixth fight he has won out of seven, losing to Geoff Neal in January’s UFC Fight Night 143.

Muhammad said of the fight: “This fight was me against me. I learned my lesson from my last loss, where I went in fierce and rushed.”

“Today, the plan was to be cool, calm and collected and implement my game plan, which was to crowd him. I needed to close that distance – he does his best work at range, so I had to make him feel uncomfortable and crowd him.”

“I’m hoping to next fight Niko Price in July. He’s always down to fight, as am I, so let’s do it.”

Overall, Muhammad boasts 15 wins to three losses on his record.

Chicago-born Muhammad is a ‘Welterweight’, and proud of his Palestinian heritage. At every fight he brings with him a Palestinian flag, and wants to raise awareness about the Palestinian cause.

He told AJ+: “When I’m in a fight, on TV in a big fight, I’m going to carry my flag with pride.”

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