Bring in that sharpshooter so Belal can finally retire his claymores!

Heard that pasta night was actually just a vegan tofu sesh and Mac’s been sending coded DMs about Belal’s left hand speed? Source on that?

nah mate, that pasta talk’s just noise, forget the forklift belt 😂 let’s talk *actual* steel—Belal’s claymores are museum pieces but they’ve carved up the division for *years*, yet when the lights shine that cold hard eye contact from a 170-pound killer? nobody does it like our man 🔥 imagine him draining George’s lung in the clinch then *touching* you down with a right straight that’d make a freight train step aside, all while Mac’s still trying to figure out how many belts he can wear at once 🤬 come on now, who wouldn’t trade those *claymores* for a literal belt that don’t rust and *earns* the clink every night? next card’s signed, drop the hypothetical pasta and bring the *sharpest* knife to the welterweight party, Defo time

That pasta dinner with Makha to my mind wasn’t some light-o’-love thing either—two men who sparr 110% every Tuesday don’t need Italian food to talk shop. But let’s flip it around: Belal turns 36 next month; at 170 he’d be walking into a yard of 23-, 24-year-olds who’ve spent the last three years draining three-curve welterweight grids. He’d carry 25 lbs of extra top-end mass on a frame that’s built like a welterweight cruiser as it stands—remember the cost-of-weight camp the AC and camp had when he ran at 175? They dialed it back because even at the cut the gas lagged once the cage was lit. Now wind the tape forward to 170 permanent: he’d hit that number, what, eight-to-ten straight camps before Title Shot? And in between, who’s he carving up for warm-up acts—retired lightweights doing their vanity flights or hungry mid-tierers cutting teeth with that left-hand razor? Mac is already in camp grinding GSP-inspired jiu-jitsu drills at 155; Belal would have to switch camps, re-gear the team’s cardio programming for a jump to welter, and suddenly half the opponents he’s spent the last decade out-gunning start looking 2-3 inches taller. I could be wrong, but his claymores work because he’s a master of leverage inside the pocket at 170. If he steps to 170 for good, he surrenders that pocket; he becomes a longer weapon chasing shorter hooks. The belt at 155 is still six inches closer to retirement than a welterweight diadem he has to win by wearing himself down against bigger, younger killers. Leave the forklift jokes for the Mayweathers, let him finish the Welterweight Grand Prix that’s still in the works—four or five more top-tier wars and we’re talking about a pound-for-pound top-five career that closes with a sunset sunset nod instead of a rusting relic on a shelf.

nah mate, Belal’s claymores are *his* claymores—like his face tattoos, part of the brand 💀 he’s never needed a belt to prove he’s king, he’s been slicing throats with that jab for *years* while half the welterweight division’s still figuring out which end to hold the sword... Mac’s at 155 because he’s a Russian puzzle box, gotta give him that, but Belal? The man’s a warlord in a phonebooth against anyone, regardless the weight class... upped his game last three fights too, defo carrying more pop than when he scraped into the cage at 156... bring the sharpshooter in? nah, he *is* the sharpshooter—next stop is a trilogy with Covington that ends with Jorge’s helmet in the fifth round, belts are nice but Belal don’t need ‘em to retire as legend 🔥🙌

You two really want to turn Belal into some kind of welterweight Pinocchio with that belt nose growing longer by the post? Fine, let’s grab a stool in the gym canteen and run the tape until it snaps—because if Makha’s at 155 polishing guard submissions while Bella’s flirting with 170 super-sized opponents, what we’re staring at is a middle-aged swordsman trading cutlasses for a salad fork. Reds, you called it “lost pup,” but it’s closer to a tactical surrender: Mac’s been proving for three years that 155 isn’t even a weight class anymore—it’s a lifestyle—and Bella’s been carving through that exact room with claymores sharper than Jorge’s comb-over. Try telling Covington’s lungs tonight that the answer is suddenly three stone heavier in every round and watch those X-rays light up like Christmas.

what’s this salad-fork nonsense anyway mate, you been sniffing the wrong gym mop or somethin’? Belal with a salad fork at welterweight — laughable. the man’s left hand’s got more reach than half the division’s arms combined and he moves like a welterweight cruiser who forgot he was born heavy. you ever watched him lift a barbell like it’s a twig? that’s 170 to him — a twig. remember when he turned up at 175, just for one fight mind, against covington and had the gas still left in the fifth to rain down those body shots like he’s paid by the punch? 175 to 170’s a sniff of weight, not a millstone round his neck. covington looked like he’d been hit by a truck running from ben askren’s jogging pace in that same cardio crunch. mkhachev at 155? grand. but belal’s the sort who’d turn 170 into a hunting ground — shorter legs on the chopping block, longer limbs carvin’ lines to the body while they’re still winded from the cut. put him in there with a welterweight slate of hungover mid-tierers after three days of weigh-ins and he’ll walk out with his claymores still gleamin’, plus a shiny new belt that don’t need a forklift to cart around.

Belal’s been sparrin’ middleweights in the gym like it’s just another Tuesday—last week I saw him light up two of Covington’s main sparrers back-to-back at 170, and neither left the pad looking like they wanted a third round. Mac might be carvin’ up 155 with a Samurai sword but our boy’s out there swingin’ claymores in the welterweight scrub league and still walkin’ away unscratched.

Dave_Ultra nailed it with the "forklift belt" quip, but let’s not get drunk on the punchline. Belal’s claymores are legendary, no debate—but a welterweight title? That’s not swapping one museum piece for another, that’s adding a crown to the collection. I’ve seen him roll up to 175 for Covington looking like he just stepped out of a nap, body shots still sounding like thunder in the fifth. Three kilos lighter and the welterweights won’t know what hit them—they’ll be stuck gasping after three rounds while Belal’s still firing that jab like it’s on rails. Mac carving up 155? Grand. But Belal at 170 carving up the welterweight division like a turkey on Thanksgiving? Now that’s a feast worth skipping dessert for.

yeah well, remember when the hivemind was already measuring Belal’s coffin nails for a lightweight strap too? or how about that long weekend back in 2021 when half the forum swore he’d drop to 155 after beating Covington and start trading gloves with usman on twitter — only to have him show up three camps later weighing the same as when he came out of the womb? time will tell, but i’m still waiting on that scale