Comfort Zone

Belal Muhammad appears to just be hitting his stride in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s welterweight division.

The former Titan Fighting Championship titlist has reeled off a three-bout winning streak in the Octagon and will attempt to continue that momentum against Chance Rencountre in a preliminary contest on Friday at UFC Fight Night 131 in Utica, New York. The main card is headlined by a bantamweight clash between Jimmie Rivera and Marlon Moraes and begins at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Fox Sports 1. The FS1-televised preliminary card kicks off at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

“I feel like I just got to my comfort zone in the cage,” Muhammad told Sherdog.com. “When you first get in here, all the lights and everything you’ve been working for and you finally get to the UFC -- it’s different, man. It’s different to be under those lights, it’s different to have Bruce Buffer say your name, it’s a different fight week than all these smaller shows. I feel like now that I’m finally in my comfort zone and knowing that I belong here. I’m just coming into my own now.”

Muhammad was originally scheduled to face Niko Price at UFC Fight Night 131, but “The Hybrid” was forced to withdraw from the bout for undisclosed reasons, giving Rencountre the opportunity to make his Octagon debut on a little more than one week’s notice. The 31-year-old Alliance MMA representative has logged time in Bellator MMA, Resurrection Fighting Alliance and Titan Fighting Championship over the course of his career and enters the matchup on a four-fight winning streak.

The change does not faze Muhammad, who credits a varied stable of training partners at Roufusport for keeping him prepared for different styles of opponents.

“It’s one of those where I train with some of the best guys in the world and I see different looks every day. I get different styles in the gym every day,” he said. “I’m not one of those guys that studies my opponent day in and day out. I watch maybe like one or two fights, and I get their style in my head. I know I’m able to adapt to anything that happens in the cage, no matter what. A last-second opponent change -- I’ve gone through it already. I’ve probably had like 10 opponent changes in my career, so it’s nothing new to me. I knew that stuff like this happens. It’s just staying ready for anybody.”

As Muhammad has rounded out his game, he has proven himself against more accomplished and celebrated strikers. After making his name on the regional circuit thanks to his wrestling and grappling, wins over the likes of Tim Means and Jordan Mein have showcased rapidly improving standup. The victory over Means at UFC Fight Night 121 in Sydney was particularly pleasing to the 29-year-old Chicago native, as he worked consistently behind his jab while mixing in effective combinations to capture a split decision.

“Outside of the UFC, most of my fights, I was basically a wrestler-grappler type guy, but now I came in here and I’m striking with some of the best guys in the world,” Muhammad said. “I feel like Tim Means is probably one of the best strikers, the most creative strikers, in the division. I’m starting to come into to my own, showing my game. I can strike with strikers, grapple with grapplers. I can do it all with anybody. I can advance wherever the fight takes me.”

One area where Muhammad is not so interested in holding his own is in the self-promotional aspect of MMA. In recent months, “Remember the Name” has made his disdain known for the antics of some of the other rising talents in the welterweight division. For one, Muhammad has not been a fan of Colby Covington’s remarks about Brazil, and following his victory over Means, he called out the brash American Top Team member: “If I see you on the street, you’re going to the ICU.” Muhammad knows, however, that a meeting with Covington, who faces Rafael dos Anjos for the interim welterweight title at UFC 225, could still be a few fights away.

“I would love to go up against him. He’s one of those guys where I’ve got to get up there first, where he wouldn’t be able to turn me down. Right now, he’s at a point where he’s not gonna take a fight against anybody lower than him,” Muhammad said. “He’s one of those guys that will just sit out a year just so he won’t have to fight against guys below. He got a shot from Demian Maia; he got a shot from Dong Hyun Kim. All these ranked fighters got there from other guys giving them the chance. It’s just having the balls to go in there and fight anybody.”

Another welterweight who caught Muhammad’s attention recently is Darren Till, whose social media footage of him roughing up a sparring partner in training drew some harsh criticism. Muhammad then made his own video mocking Till’s post using the same caption -- “rounds upon rounds upon rounds” -- that the Liverpool, England, native used.

“When guys sit there and post their sparring videos, that’s weak stuff. What happens in the gym is supposed to stay in the gym,” Muhammad said. “Stuff like that happens all the time. I know he’s probably trying to do it to promote a fight and make himself look good, but you don’t want to do that to your sparring partners. It’s too cocky. I don’t like that type of thing.”

Even after Till responded to the criticism by posting a video of himself taking a shot in training, Muhammad was not impressed.

“It doesn’t look like his sparring partners were that good. If you’re beating up your sparring partners like that, maybe you need better sparring partners,” he said. “You’re sitting there recording yourself knocking guys out, talking about I’m dropping all these guys and then you post a video of yourself getting punched once [and] not really that hard. To each their own. Whoever’s running his camp, that’s the way they want it, I guess. They want to get his confidence from beating up his training partner. I like to go against training partners that are gonna push me. I like to get beat in the practice room by my training partners so I feel that nobody in the cage is gonna beat me as much as they’re gonna beat me.”

For now, Muhammad knows the task ahead is simple: Just keeping adding numbers to the win column. That will get him his chance to go head-to-head with the Covingtons and Tills of the world down the road.

“It may be hard, but I’m just trying to stay active. I’m trying to get at least three in before the end of the year. Just willing to fight anybody, honestly,” he said. “Anything to keep me active. I don’t want to wait for guys to finally give me a chance. I’m gonna go out there and keep winning.”