Belal Muhammad has faced considerable criticism regarding the game plan and strategy he employed in his recent loss to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315, a defeat that cost him a shot at the welterweight title.
In the lead-up to the fight, Muhammad repeatedly expressed a desire to showcase his striking, specifically mentioning his “Canelo hands” to prove his boxing capabilities against anyone, including a noted knockout artist like Della Maddalena. Throughout his ascent in the rankings, Muhammad primarily relied on powerful wrestling and relentless pressure to overwhelm opponents. Despite attempting nine takedowns during their bout, he is now widely criticized for his strategic approach against the formidable Australian striker.
However, UFC veteran Matt Brown strongly disagrees with the notion that Muhammad`s loss was primarily a result of poor game planning. Brown argues that this perspective fails to acknowledge how effectively Della Maddalena shut down Muhammad`s offense.
“It`s almost an irrelevant question because it didn`t matter what his game plan was,” Brown explained during a recent podcast appearance. “Jack had an answer for everything that he did.”
“Yes, if you`re part of Belal`s camp, you`re likely looking back thinking maybe you could have game planned differently, but it`s difficult to imagine that would have significantly changed anything,” Brown continued. “When Belal revisits the drawing board to analyze a fight against Jack Della Maddalena, there`s a lot of fundamental work to be done.”
Since the fight predominantly took place on the feet, Della Maddalena was able to dictate many of the key exchanges using his superior boxing skills, reach, and power. While Muhammad had moments, he struggled to land his most impactful strikes, and it was clear that Della Maddalena was inflicting more damage with his connections.
Regarding Muhammad`s wrestling, Brown quickly notes that Muhammad didn`t abandon his attempts to take the fight to the ground; instead, Della Maddalena simply had consistent defenses against every attempt to drag him into deeper waters.
“Jack`s wrestling defense looked excellent,” Brown said. “Even when Belal managed to get him down, I believe Jack popped right back up almost instantly every time. I don`t recall Belal holding him down for any meaningful duration. Jack utilized clever techniques, like hip-toss variations, to create space and was highly effective at preventing himself from being pinned against the cage.”
Brown also pointed out that many observers, including himself, had predicted the fight would be potentially “boring,” expecting Muhammad to control Della Maddalena against the cage for large portions. This forecast ultimately did not come to pass.
Brown suggests that if Muhammad deserves any criticism for his performance that night, it should be directed more towards the specific striking techniques he chose to employ against Della Maddalena, rather than a supposed failure to wrestle enough.
Muhammad`s apparent focus on boxing was, in Brown`s view, a potentially disastrous strategy when facing someone as skilled and powerful with their hands as Della Maddalena.
“It seemed like Belal was engaging in a boxing match with him more than I would have liked,” Brown commented. “If I were advising him on game planning, I would have preferred to see him incorporate more teeps, kicks, and generally mix things up more, focusing on distance management. We already know Jack is a very good, technically sound boxer who looks great when trading punches.”
“That`s arguably the worst way to approach him, regardless of whether your overall plan is to stand or wrestle,” Brown added. “Even if you intend to stand for a few rounds, don`t just box a pure boxer. The only striking approach I would have liked to see more of from Belal was a Muay Thai or kickboxing style. Simply boxing a boxer doesn`t make a lot of strategic sense in my opinion.”
Ultimately, Brown can`t help but consider whether Della Maddalena might simply represent a difficult stylistic puzzle that Muhammad was unable to solve, regardless of the strategy implemented.
Brown observes that throughout the history of combat sports, fighters frequently encounter opponents who are simply bad stylistic matchups they cannot overcome. While he cannot state with absolute certainty that this was the case for Muhammad at UFC 315, Brown believes the available evidence strongly points in that direction.
“Belal definitely has things to learn and improve upon from this fight,” Brown stated. “There`s a lot he can analyze and work on. However, I`m not sure if that improvement will ever be sufficient to defeat Jack, given how their fight played out. I`m not certain there`s anything he can do from a match-up perspective, and sometimes, that`s simply the deciding factor – the match-up itself. The reality is, Jack had a perfect game plan. We can talk all day about Belal`s supposed lack of one, but Jack had a perfect plan and executed it exceptionally well throughout the entire fight.”
“I`m not sure there was anything Belal could have done to beat Jack that night, and I`m not sure there`s anything he could do to beat Jack in the future either.”
