UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad has yet to be featured as a guest on The Ariel Helwani Show. But it turns out, he may be slightly misinformed as to why that hasn’t yet been the case.
On Tuesday, Muhammad appeared on the Fight Back podcast hosted by former UFC fighter Jake Shields, where he discussed his belief that Helwani hasn’t yet had him on his podcast because of his Palestinian descent in the midst of the Palestine-Israel conflict.
“Are you and Ariel Helwani cool?” asked Shields.
“No,” replied Muhammad.
“He probably doesn’t like you because of your heritage,” added Shields.
“One hundred percent,” added Muhammad. “I’ll say that from the beginning because he has never invited me on his podcast. He’s never invited me on. Then I signed with Ali (Abdelaziz) and he was like ‘Oh, it’s because Ali wasn’t letting him come on’. You’ve never invited me on beforehand.
“My coach Louis Taylor won the PFL belt at 42 years and he never invited him on because he is with me. That’s a huge story that was something that should have been on a big podcast. But you didn’t talk about him. Even when I beat Leon (Edwards), you didn’t mention that. You didn’t give it any type of hype. For me, I don’t care. I don’t have no hate for nobody.”
Ariel Helwani has never invited Belal Muhammad on his podcast despite him being the UFC champ
Do you think it’s because of his heritage? @bullyb170 pic.twitter.com/Rmt8fDa3Ie
— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) December 10, 2024
This is also not the first time that Muhammad has taken aim at Helwani. In October, Muhammad called Helwani “one of the biggest haters in the world” during an appeared on The Anik and Florian Podcast with UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik and Kenny Florian.
Oh my goodness… @bullyb170 just went OFF on @arielhelwani …
This is in response to Ariel Helwani’s questioning of Tom Aspinall, during Monday’s episode of The Ariel Helwani Show, about the difficulties of fighting in the early morning hours at UFC 304.
— Curtis Calhoun (@CalhounOnMMA) October 16, 2024
Clearly, Muhammad believes that Helwani has some sort of vendetta against him, whether that be due to Muhammad’s heritage or not. Helwani has of course spoken numerous times about his Jewish faith over the years in sports media.
However, this appears to largely be a one-sided beef. In response to Jake Shields on X, Helwani provided proof that he has indeed invited Belal Muhammad onto his podcast, showing a clip from 2023 where he told Muhammad that he would “put him over” if he came onto his podcast and to “stop listening to people” who were telling him not to come on the show.
Yes pic.twitter.com/zIc1HvwR4d https://t.co/MclKkXQP5q
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 10, 2024
This response directly refutes Muhammad’s claims and shows that there has been an effort made by Helwani to get Muhammad on his show.
But whether it be outside influences or something made up in his own mind, Muhammad seems to believe that Helwani has something against him or his beliefs, which certainly doesn’t appear to be an accurate assessment of the situation.
[Ariel Helwani on X, Jake Shields on X]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.