Media Belal title wrap did 22 million views. Is he becoming a star?

[Dreyga_King of Sherbums]

It’s no secret that there is massive Muslim fan base in MMA. Has Belal Muhammad tapped into that fanbase? Could he become a major star in the UFC?

 

[Dana's Conscience]

He's too old

 

[Ramon Antonio]

Yeah people will watch free shit, but will they pay for his PPV?

 

[LoveMyMMA]

I think he won over a lot of Non-Muslim fans as well.

His showing against Leon was very impressive and he backed up all of his pre-fight talk.

 

[kingmob6]

Belal will become the next Ronaldo. Dana will put Gregor into a dumpster and start inviting Belal to his kids birthday parties as celebrity crush.
(and then I woke up from my dream)

 

[usernamee]

Did it get that many views because of the Dana looking pissed image so people went and looked at it?

 

[Fact Checker]

There’s a difference between becoming a meme and becoming a star.

Belal becoming champ his a meme for the irony of mediocrity triumphing everywhere I see on social media.

 

[ChinaMMABlog]

It’s no secret that there is massive Muslim fan base in MMA. Has Belal Muhammad tapped into that fanbase? Could he become a major star in the UFC?

He'll never be a star. He has no star quality.
Not as bad a fighter as everyone on Sherdog likes to say, but he's not particularly exciting. He also has a pretty lame personality. Nothing particularly interesting about Belal. He's just a hard working, jack-of-all trades type.

But MMA fans have a very strange idea of what a star is.
You're only a star if the casuals and mainstream know who you are. Even Sean O'Malley is barely there.

But you're right about the massive Muslim fanbase. All of these muslim champions (Khabib, Islam, Belal) get huge clicks, but none of that really translates into sales. It does help line UFC's pockets with killer broadcast deals abroad + site fees, but there's no extra revenue coming in from any of these guys.
Also, wouldn't be surprised if Islam & Belal's social footprints are aided by bots and click farms. That's how ONE FC always got impressive digital numbers.

 

[jx820]

20 million just wanted to see Dana looking sad.

 

[ThePimblettEra]

In my opinion you either have "the aura" or you don't.
When you're born with it, everyone can see it. Sense it.

Belal doesn't have it.
It's just that simple.

It's not an insult btw, we weren't all born to move the needle.

 

[Prologue]

20 million just wanted to see Dana looking sad.

Came here to say this. No one knows or cares about Whohammed. Dana knows this.

 

[Pharenheit]

Belal isn’t marketable huh

 

[StonedLemur]

There’s a difference between becoming a meme and becoming a star.

Belal becoming champ his a meme for the irony of mediocrity triumphing everywhere I see on social media.

Mediocrity sir?
Fuckin guy worked and grinded his balls off...got his shot and pretty much dominated a good champion.

Is he goofy lookin?...sure
Is his style not the most exciting?...yeah
But you can't call what he has accomplished "mediocre".

I mean give the guy some credit its not like he fought and beat Song Yadong (bantamweight if you didn't know, I know you guys like the bigger men to look at) lol.

 

[AmonTobin]

As a fight fan who's admittedly never been terribly keen on Belal's style, I've never denied his skill or success. Could be his long-awaited title shot and win injected renewed enthusiasm into the division.

Beyond that, the welterweight championship has felt a little stale for a while. I'd reckon a number of rematches (Usman/Edwards/Covington/Masvidal) as well as top 5 guys aging out (Masvidal/Usman/Burns) have hampered some of the momentum out of the division.

I could see viewership getting a bump just by the fact that the belt is not only changing hands, but the title picture has become more appealing to fans now that the division has seen some recent shake up, with a few new exciting faces (JDM/Shavkat/Garry/ at the top. The WW division has a few guys that look like future champ material, so this naturally makes any future title challenges highly anticipated.

 

[Koro_11]

It’s no secret that there is massive Muslim fan base in MMA. Has Belal Muhammad tapped into that fanbase? Could he become a major star in the UFC?

It’s possible, there are a lot of them and if only a small percentage follow MMA that is a huge fan base for sure. I guess he lucked out with the timing when you consider everything that’s going on in Palestine so he can play that angle, and also full credit to him for stepping up and making the most of his opportunity because he sure was not gonna get another one.

 

[ledonk]

people tuned in to watch a pissed off dana white

 

[oski]

It’s no secret that there is massive Muslim fan base in MMA. Has Belal Muhammad tapped into that fanbase? Could he become a major star in the UFC?

They will not promote him as their champion. They prefer psychopaths (cough jon conor).

 

[Brokenpromise]

This is like pointing out slapfighting is a sport because people watch it on youtube

 

[magpie878]

Two hometown heroes, both champs, headlined the show. I would give them the credit.

 

[PaddyO'malley]

This is like pointing out slapfighting is a sport because people watch it on youtube

Agreed Belal's obviously a superstar fam good catch