UFC Welterweight champion Belal Muhammad has publicly called for the promotion to address the absence of the Palestinian flag from his fighter profile on the official UFC website.
Muhammad, who proudly represents both Palestine and Chicago, Illinois, noticed he was the only athlete on the UFC 315 fight card whose profile appeared without a national flag. After two weeks of the issue remaining unresolved, Muhammad decided to speak up about the situation.
“People keep asking me, ‘Where’s your flag?’ I kept getting multiple messages from it, and I was assuming it was a mistake, but it’s still not addressed,” Muhammad said. “So I’ll address it and hope that Dana addresses it as well and fixes it, because Dana said he’s all about free speech. He’s all about people supporting who they want to support and not muting or silencing anybody. I’m hoping that the UFC fixes this issue and puts my flag next to my name so the people that I represent, the people that I fight for, and the people that I train for, will see their flag.”
Previously On Jake Shields’ podcast, UFC Welterweight Champion Belal Muhammad discussed the critical role of wrestling in MMA, his advocacy for Palestinian families, and his experiences with discrimination.
Muhammad has been outspoken about what he sees as the US government’s economically and politically motivated stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict. He expressed frustration with the government’s response to humanitarian crises, pointing out a lack of prioritization for domestic issues compared to foreign military support.
“For the US to keep giving money this is your – our tax dollars, this what we’re paying for,” Muhammad said. “We have a hurricane and you know oh we’re going to give these people $700 and it’s like are you guys serious right now? If all the money that we’re giving to other – to support their wars, if you give it to our people just literally nobody would be suffering here.”
He criticized distractions that detract from addressing core issues:
“People just get keep getting distracted right – oh bitcoin’s at $100,000 right – a distraction, Hawk Tuah got a coin out – distraction.”
As a Muslim and Palestinian-American, Muhammad faced significant hurdles throughout his career. Despite being on an 11-fight winning streak against top-tier opponents, he felt he had to take “the long road” to earn his title shot, suggesting resistance to promoting a Palestinian champion.
Shields prodded:
“There may be some people that don’t like you with the UFC. I think Dana is fine with you, but, like, here, some of the people at ESPN from inside don’t exactly love you, maybe because of the Palestinian heritage. The owner of the UFC, um, his dad was a literal terr*rist”
Muhammad responded:
“For me right it’s I’m just happy that I got the opportunity,” Muhammad said. “People like will say it and they’ll do this but like you said Dana it doesn’t really matter to him. I’m glad that it took me the long road but they did give it to me right so I just had to make the most of it.”
The situation comes months after UFC CEO Dana White reversed a May 2022 policy that had banned stars from carrying flags to the Octagon. White had declared in October 2023, “If flags hurt your feelings, too f—king bad,” establishing a new open policy regarding flag representation.
Muhammad is scheduled to defend his Welterweight crown against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on May 10, 2025. The UFC has not yet responded to Muhammad’s request to restore the Palestinian flag to his profile.
