Belal Muhammad Wants To Be A Muslim Role Model

Belal Muhammad didn't have a successful UFC 205, but he has more important things on his mind. He wants to become a role model for the Muslim community.

"When I first started my career, I didn't really think about it (being a role model)," Muhammad said to MMA Fighting. "But now when I got to the UFC and before when I became Titan champion, you start getting messages from people telling you, ‘We love what you're doing, we love the message you're conveying.' I didn't think that people would look at me like that. Now that I do see people looking up to me and kids thinking of me like that, it does feel good. It makes me want to do better for them."

Belal also feels that a lot of the people out there in America also misunderstand those in the Muslim community, something he has dealt with directly as well.

"You've gotta brush it off," Muhammad said. "A lot of people don't understand what being a Muslim is and they don't understand what it means. You just see what you see on the news. But meeting someone like me in person, a Muslim, they're like, ‘Oh, I thought all you people were mean' or something like that. It's funny. I try to change their mindset. A lot of people have never even met a Muslim. They just know what they see on TV, like ‘these guys are all crazy, they're all terrorists, blah blah blah, their religion tells them to kill people.' Then they meet me in person and they're like, ‘Wow, you're a really nice guy.'"

Muhammad was knocked out by Vincente Luque at UFC 205, which you can see highlights of above.