Belal Muhammad says Song Yadong's KO of Umar Nurmagomedov 'broke my heart'

Belal Muhammad has opened up about the emotional toll of watching Umar Nurmagomedov suffer the first knockout loss of his career, saying Song Yadong’s finish at UFC Shanghai “broke my heart.” Nurmagomedov, who had gone unfinished across 21 professional bouts, was stopped by a single perfectly placed shot from the surging bantamweight contender in front of a partisan home crowd.

Muhammad, a longtime friend and training partner of the Nurmagomedov family, made clear his reaction had nothing to do with any ill feeling toward Song. “Not because I hate Song Yadong, but because I know how hard Umar works,” Muhammad said on his YouTube channel. “Umar is probably one of the nicest human beings, humblest human beings I’ve ever met, and I knew once that knockout happened that the Twitter trolls, the Instagram trolls, that just hate them — hate him because he’s part of Khabib’s crew — were going to attack him and come at him hard. It just freaking makes me more mad just because I know how nice he is and how good of a person he is.”

Muhammad also pushed back on a claim that circulated during fight week suggesting Nurmagomedov had dismissed Song as a “trash bag” in pre-fight comments. “It was in Russian, so he even came out and said himself that he didn’t say it, they translated it wrong,” Muhammad said. “He respects all of his opponents, I know that for a fact. Even Merab [Dvalishvili] — I don’t think he has truly bad blood for him. He’s pure at heart; he’s a good kid.”

The most volatile moment of the night came after the finish, when Nurmagomedov’s brother Usman rushed into the cage and appeared to nearly exchange blows with Song before pulling back. Muhammad said he understood the impulse entirely. “For me, I get so nervous when I’m cornering, and it’s my boys,” he said. “Imagine that’s your brother, that’s your older brother out there, and to see him get knocked out like that — you can just see how emotional he was. Even Khabib tried to stop him from going into the cage, but there was no bad blood from him.”

The situation eventually de-escalated, with Khabib Nurmagomedov and the rest of Team Nurmagomedov showing their respect for Song following the bout. Song’s victory, achieved as a sizable underdog, significantly reshuffled the bantamweight contender picture at 135 pounds.