Recent UFC signee Belal Muhammad took the time to discuss Ramadan, street fighting and how he got his UFC contract.

One-time Titan FC welterweight champion Muhammad is a hot prospect in the MMA world. After going 3-0 and beating Ultimate Fighter veteran Steve Carl in Titan FC, Muhammad signed on with the UFC to replace an injured Nordine Taleb.

Muhammad is taking on exciting welterweight and professional model Alan Jouban.

Before the two go at it in the cage, Cage Pages took the opportunity to pick Muhammad’s brain in the hopes of finding out what has gotten him to where he is today.

A former high school wrestler, Muhammad used wrestling to get started in MMA. To be more specific, Muhammad’s wrestling coach got him in the door.

“Basically wrestling my whole life. My high school wrestling coach ended up being a fighter for Strikeforce, and I ended up seeing him in a paper. I ended up kind of texting him to see how I could get started in it. He ended up taking me to the gym and I just fell in love with the sport ever since. [My coach is] Louis Taylor, he fights for World Series of Fighting right now. I’m still with him. I’ve been with him since I started. He’s been in my corner every fight.”

In Muhammad’s fights he has shown clever striking that never has him overextending. When asked if he has any previous striking or boxing experience responded had a more straight forward response.

“Not really box, more like street fighting. Me and my boys would always box in the backyard and something like that. I’ve always loved boxing so it came easy for me when I started doing it for real. I’m from Chicago. I wasn’t from the best neighborhood, so I always had to like street fight, so I’ve been in a lot of street fights in my life. Yeah it just pushed me there, I just like competition. I always wanted to win one on one stuff. There’s nobody you can blame but yourself. Win or lose it’s on you.”

Self-reliance and mental fortitude are common themes in the mixed martial arts. Competitors are forced to develop iron wills if they are to push their bodies past their breaking point. For Muhammad he draws mental fortitude from more places than just his training room.

A practicing Muslim, Muhammad observes Ramadan wholeheartedly, even while training.

“It’s one of those things, it strengthens you mentally, a lot, man. It’s one of those where you have to be super strong mentally, and you have to keep pushing forward with it. I know if I get through this training camp the fight is going to be easy. No one is going to push me as hard as I’m pushing myself. It’s one of those where my body got acclimated to it because I’ve always been training during Ramadan, but I’m now pushing myself harder than I’ve ever pushed myself. I’m getting the right nutrients and stuff at night so I’m able to train the next day. I work with a dietitian I train with. He’s putting me through what I need to take in at night. What’s the good things, what’s the bad things. A lot of people actually gain weight during Ramadan just ‘cause at night they’ll put whenever they want in their system just to stuff themselves so the next day they can feel good. For me I need to put the right food in my body because I’m still cutting weight. I have to still eat light at night.”

This fight will be the first professional fight Muhammad has ever taken so close to Ramadan. Although after almost being brought in to fight in May, he had to know his time was coming sooner rather than after.

“I was actually training, and my coach, I mean my manager called me and asked if I wanted to fight Rick Story when Tarec Saffedine got hurt, ‘cause Saffedine, I guess, posted on Facebook that he was going to be out of this fight. The doctor’s ended up checking him out and it was only stitches on his knee. I don’t know why he was saying he was going to be out for only stitches on your knee. That fell through, and then they ended up signing me to a four fight deal. Then they called me a week later and asked if I wanted to step in for Nordine Taleb.”

His first match-up is a tall order for any fighter to take on. Jouban is a relentless striker with a growing highlight reel. Still, Muhammad is excited, if anything, for the chance to steal some fans during the epic event.

“I think I match-up well against him man. I think it’s going to be an exciting fight. I think it’s a good fight for my first fight in the UFC just because I know he has a name, and I know he’s an exciting fighter. The fans are going to be excited about the fight. The fact that it’s my first fight and it’s the biggest weekend of the year for the UFC, that I’m going to gain a lot of fans from this fight. I think it’s going to be a good action-packed fight.”

Muhammad speaks with a conviction that goes beyond what training till exhaustion will give a fighter. To see what that conviction brings, tune in to Muhammad’s first UFC fight against Jouban on July 7th, and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.