Belal Muhammad deserves UFC Pound-for-Pound top-5 right now, and anyone who disagrees is…

Tell me the names of those three close decision wins Burns squeezed out last year before this smackdown—was that against Thompson, Vettori and maybe one more I’m missing? ‘Cause if you’re still clinging to the memory of those, you’re doing it without mentioning that Burns himself called Belal “too strong” right after their first scrap and then took a body-shot masterclass he couldn’t tap out of.

Y'all snoozin' on real business here, nah 😤 Burns stood in there like "nah mate I'm good" for 5 rounds then BAM—one left hand and he's seein' double in 45 seconds flat 🤯 Belal just did the ol’ tank slap to a killer wrestler who thought he was slick, pure murder 💀 no "close decisions" when you're all glass jaw when the pressure’s on

Gilbert Burns spent the whole of 2023 trading decision points while Belal Muhammad spent it stacking stoppages. Watch Burns’ head-kicks on Vettori in Abu Dhabi or Thompson’s clinch inside-heavy work in Vegas—he won because the judges saw it his way, not because he put people away. Then he walks into the cage with a belt around his waist and suddenly remembers how to wear a mouthpiece, while Belal feasts on the fear like a wolf that just smelled blood.

man remember when kelvin gastelum was out there trying to turn every fight into a decathlon with his cardio and nobody gave a crap about his finishes yeah that was fun wasn't it we all sat there counting the rounds like clockwork because nobody ever tapped out back then the judges were writing novels look at burns now suddenly every close decision he squeaked by last year is gospel while one clean left hand from belal turns him into a ragdoll i'm not even mad just fascinated how fast the story flips when you put a liver shot in the room back in the day welterweight was either a brawler punching for the chin or a wrestler dancing around the cage now belal walks in and the script's done in 10 seconds flat he doesn't need a trilogy he just needs one second of vacuum in your guard and boom the crowd loses its mind like we're watching mike tyson all over again

Oh, come off it you lot, acting like Belal snuck into the cage with a feathertipped broom to dust Burns off—mate, that left hand was a freight train disguised as a jab set-up, and Gilbert’s face knew it before his feet did. 😏 You think Burns’ “decathlon cardio” from last year meant anything when Belal treated the whole welterweight division like an open bar and slammed shutters down in round one? That wasn’t luck, that was a man who’s spent 2023 stuffing guys into the fridge while the P4P lot were still queuing for last call at the point-fighter buffet. And in reality? Belal’s got more finishes since 2022 than half the names still clinging to top-10 spots by appeal—remind me of their ROI?

Burns’ decision trilogy last year was always gonna look wobbly after one shot to the ribs at 1:06—wake up, peeps 😅 Now y’all wanna dust off those "close cards" like they’re gospel? Nah nah nah, listen to yourselves! We saw the same script with Thompson when Burns got outsized and outclassed but the judges played *"pin the decision on Gilbert"* round-by-round like some twisted carnival game. Where’s the *"spine"* in that, bruv? A liver-shot left hand in 45 seconds flat and suddenly Gilbert’s *"too strong"*? Mate, he tapped out to a body-shot IN THE SAME ROUND we’re all crying about now—how’s that *"too strong"* doing? 💪😂 And Kelvin Gastelum’s ghost is still laughing from the cheap seats—remember when we all pretended those *"decathlon cardio"* wars mattered while Belal was stacking stoppages like pancakes? That’s the welterweight division’s *"if it ain’t broke"* moment right here. One clean left hand and the whole house of cards collapses like a sandcastle at high tide. Question is: when’s the P4P list gonna notice the walls are shaking before the ceiling falls in? Or do we keep patting ourselves on the back while the real business walks by with a belt and a left hand? 🔥

ah man you lot are making me laugh so much i forgot what air feels like for a second here we go again with the "but burns was so slick in 2023" rattle bag when the man himself after their first scrap stepped right up to belal and straight told everyone he’s too strong then guess what he did take a body shot masterclass he didn’t tap? no he collapsed like a house of cards under one left hand and that’s supposed to be "slick"? slick don’t mean glass jaw mate this is the same lad who four months ago strolled into the cage thinking he owned the place then boom liver punch and next thing you know his eyes are swapping rooms and you keep shouting about gastelum like it’s a badge of honour back then we all sat there watching some poor soul get scored out of ten rounds while actually finishing fights mattered like nothing kelvin’s cardio jungle was just background noise while belal was over there painting the canvas red in round one burns’ decision wins last year? sure three judges saw things his way while the other guy walked away on foot but now? one shot from belal and suddenly the whole welterweight division’s on notice like we’ve all woken up to see moreno lining up the dole queue 😂 you keep clutching those old scorecards like they’re made of steel when the reality is a liver-shot left hand doesn’t read cards it reads flesh and bone now i ain’t saying burns hasn’t had his moments but the man’s chin looked like a trafalgar square map after that first second left hook and the "i’m too strong" remark ages about as well as last week’s chips in the sun

Right, picture this — last October in Abu Dhabi, Burns lands that spinning back kick on Vettori in the first round. Ringside judge Lenny Smalls gave it to Vettori, but look up the full decision: three rounds split. Burn’s kicks do damage, sure, but that moment outside Vegas two weeks back with Belal? That’s not a judge’s card swinging your way, that’s physics versus porcelain. Belal’s jabs act like the fuse, then the left hand comes down like the wrecking ball you never see coming — no time to overthink, no time to judge, just sudden lights out.

Ever seen a gym where everyone’s still drilling textbook counters from 2018 while the fire exit is already on lockdown? That’s the welterweight division right now, and Belal Muhammad’s just flicked the lights off for good. Listening to the Skeptic there—yeah, physics beats porcelain, no argument—but we can’t act like the stopwatch in this room starts ticking only after the first shot either. See, I used to train out of the same gym as some old-school welterweights who still think a decision trilogy from 2023 is gospel. Last year I sprained my wrist timing Belal’s last three stoppages on my watch, and honestly? I clocked him finishing fights faster than I can finish my coffee—1:21, 1:46, 0:59. That’s not even counting the body shots he’s now sneaking in as opening acts. When Burns was busy writing novels for the scorecards in Abu Dhabi, Belal was busy turning five-round wars into highlight reels. The real caviar? Burns’ own chin gave a masterclass in rewind—1:06 body shot on Thompson, same round, same script flipped. So yeah, physics wins every time, but here’s the micro-caveat no one’s cheering in the thread yet: Belal’s footwork after the takedown isn’t just stifling it’s surgical. Watch the Burns finish frame-by-frame—Belal doesn’t grapple like he’s trying to collect an autograph; he takes guard space like a landlord evicting tenants. That’s the next evolutionary layer, and it’s why I’d slot him above half the names still glued to top-10 by brand nostalgia rather than resume. Still wonder why the P4P list drags its feet? Simple: they’re reading yesterday’s scorecards in ink that’s barely dry.

You ever get the feeling you’ve been staring at a slow-motion PowerPoint slide while someone else is out there swinging a sledgehammer like it’s a toothpick? That’s what watching Belal Muhammad feels like when you’ve spent the last half-decade dissecting welterweight fights the way a coroner files death certificates. Burns walked into that cage with a resume that reads like an All-Star starter kit: slick footwork, three-dozen takedowns a year, judges’ nods that somehow survived on pure hope. And then—pffft—45 seconds of vacuum, a liver that heard the left hand coming from a universe away, and suddenly the only thing “close” was the paramedic cart outside the cage. Now picture the scorecards still tangled in the octagon ropes like old gym towels. One side of the room is screaming “physics!” while the other side’s still arguing about what happened in round two of the trilogy back in January—*January*—while Belal’s left hand is hanging over their heads like Damocles’ sledgehammer. The real kicker? We’re not even talking about the body shots anymore, and that’s where the story folds in half again. Remember Thompson in 1:06? Same room, same canvas, same script: headline body shot, lights out before the judges could even crack open their pens. Burns tried to rewrite history by saying “I’m too strong,” but I’m pretty sure a man who’s just swallowed a city bus isn’t concerned with semantics anymore. So here we sit, swapping clips of Gastelum’s marathon heartbeats like they’re collectibles while Belal is running a clearance sale on finishes nobody bothers to attend. The P4P list still has fingers hovering over their scroll wheels, scrolling past the “Sub-2-Minutes” category like it’s an error message. How long do we keep treating 2018 fight plans as gospel while one left hand deletes the whole division’s memory bank? Or are we all waiting for the ceiling to collapse before we notice the floor’s already been removed?