Belal Muhammad made his presence known at UFC 310. After a slight delay.
The reigning welterweight champion was cageside for Saturday’s event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and after Shavkat Rakhmonov defeated Ian Machado Garry in the co-main event, the undefeated Rakhmonov called for Muhammad to face off with him inside the octagon.
There was one snag: Security didn’t seem to recognize Muhammad—dressed in casual clothing and a backwards baseball cap—at first.
That’s at least how in-cage interviewer Joe Rogan interpreted it, as he said into the live microphone, “Security doesn’t know he’s the champ. Let him in.”
It was only a slight hiccup as shortly afterward, Muhammad and Rakhmonov were engaged in a respectful faceoff.
That didn’t stop a handful of fighters from commenting on the situation, including former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor, who posted a voice note to social media that he later deleted.
“The security doesn’t know he’s the champ!” McGregor said in the note, cackling. “Look at the state of this c*nt. The security doesn’t know he’s the champ. I’m not surprised, mother f*cker. He is an assh*le. Shut your mouth, you little dope, you barely got into the ring. They don’t even know you were the champ, you tic. Who’s this f*cking guy? ‘Who the f*ck is that guy?’ the security said.”
Watch the incident below along with McGregor’s commentary, courtesy of @combat2747.
Muhammad was originally scheduled to defend his title against Rakhmonov in the UFC 310 main event, but was forced out of the contest with a foot infection. Garry stepped in on short notice to take his place, while a flyweight title bout between champion Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura was promoted to the main event.
It is not yet known when Muhammad vs. Rakhmonov will be officially booked.
As for McGregor, he is still yet to compete since breaking his leg in a July 2021 loss to longtime rival Dustin Poirier. This past November, McGregor was found liable in a civil suit stemming from an alleged sexual assault in December 2018. He is to pay the victim, Nikita Hand, over $250,000 in damages plus up to $1.05 million in legal fees. Justice Alexander Owens also warned that McGregor could be charged with contempt of court after publicly criticizing the verdict on social media.
