Belal Muhammad Net Worth 2026: Disclosed Purses, Title Money and the Podcast

Muhammad's UFC career started with a loss and a small check. The Nevada Athletic Commission reported he made $12,000 for his debut against Alan Jouban in July 2016, a split-decision loss. Jouban made $48,000.

The disclosed numbers then track his rise through the division. At UFC 236 in Atlanta in April 2019, the Georgia commission reported $70,000 for beating Curtis Millender, split $35,000 to show and $35,000 to win. At UFC on ESPN 11 in June 2020 at the UFC Apex, Nevada reported $100,000, a $50,000 show purse doubled by the win over Lyman Good. At UFC 263 in Glendale in June 2021, the Arizona Department of Gaming reported $160,000, $80,000 plus $80,000, for his win over Demian Maia, who made $175,000.

A sixth figure comes from reporting rather than a commission. The Sports Daily, via LowKick MMA, put his UFC 242 payday in Abu Dhabi in September 2019 at $135,000: $40,000 to show, $40,000 to win, $5,000 in fight-week incentive pay and a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for stopping Takashi Sato.

After 2021 the public record stops. Nevada no longer releases purses, and England, Quebec and Qatar never did. So the two biggest paydays of his life, the Edwards and Della Maddalena title fights, have no official number attached.

Muhammad beat Edwards by unanimous decision at UFC 304 on July 27, 2024, at Co-op Live in Manchester, in front of 17,907 fans and a $6.72 million gate. He became the first UFC champion of Palestinian descent. No Fight of the Night was awarded and he did not receive a bonus.

The purse is undisclosed. Sportskeeda projected an $80,000 base for Muhammad against $500,000 for Edwards, with no sourcing. BetMGM estimated $465,000 total, a figure Front Office Sports repeated. EssentiallySports guessed $1,032,000. Three outlets, three numbers, zero documents. The lesson is that nobody outside the UFC and Muhammad's management knows.

What is documented is the outfitting money. The UFC's Promotional Guidelines Compliance program pays title challengers a flat $32,000 and champions $42,000. Muhammad received $32,000 at UFC 304 as the challenger and $42,000 at UFC 315 as the champion, per MMA Junkie. At his June 2026 Fight Night against Bonfim he led the card at $21,000, the top non-title tier for fighters with 21 or more UFC bouts.

Muhammad has earned four UFC bonuses, $200,000 before tax. Two were Fight of the Night: the Jouban debut in July 2016, which turned a $12,000 purse into a $64,500 night once the $50,000 bonus and $2,500 in Reebok pay were added, and the five-round battle with Della Maddalena at UFC 315 in May 2025. Two were Performance of the Night: the Sato finish at UFC 242 and his stoppage of Sean Brady at UFC 280 in October 2022.

Four bonuses in 24 UFC fights is a low hit rate, and it fits the profile. Muhammad built his career on decisions, pressure and wrestling, not highlight reels. The matchmakers love it. The bonus committee does not.

The slide started in Montreal on May 10, 2025, when Della Maddalena took the belt by unanimous decision. On November 22, 2025, Garry outpointed him in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night in Doha. On June 6, 2026, Bonfim beat him in the main event at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas with three 50-45 scorecards.

Money-wise, each step down matters. A champion headlining a pay-per-view can have points on the buys. A former champion in a Fight Night main event gets a strong purse and nothing more. EssentiallySports estimated roughly $300,000 for the Qatar fight and a similar number for Vegas, with the usual caveat that these are projections.

On October 21, 2026, Muhammad said he would accept a fight with Mike Malott. He prefers Kamaru Usman but said, "I'm not going to sit there and wait."

This is where Muhammad separates himself from most fighters his age. Remember The Show, the MMA game-show podcast he hosts with Jason Anik, is on the SiriusXM Media podcast network with weekly guests and a picks segment. That is a real distribution deal, not a YouTube channel with a ring light. Terms are not public.

He has done national ad work for the fitness apparel brand YoungLA alongside Cody Garbrandt, and sponsor lists include Venum through the UFC, Reebok during that era, and Combat Corner. No dollar figures are attached to any of them.

Then there is the wrestling. Muhammad has been competing in Real American Freestyle, the professional wrestling league. He lost to David Carr at RAF 04 in December 2025, beat Ben Askren 6-3 at RAF 11 in Milwaukee on July 18, 2026, in Askren's final match after a double lung transplant, and lost to Colby Covington by a 10-0 technical fall at RAF 13 in September 2026 with a crossover title on the line. In May 2026 he also signed with the ACB JJ grappling promotion. None of the contracts were disclosed, but a fighter on a losing streak taking three outside paydays in a year tells you he is treating his earning window seriously.

Muhammad was born in Chicago to Palestinian parents and has carried the Palestinian flag to weigh-ins and walkouts throughout his UFC run. Ahead of UFC 315 he said nothing would stop him walking out with it after a dispute over the flag on his UFC profile. Whatever you think of the politics, it made him one of the most recognizable fighters in the division to a global audience that does not follow the sport closely, and recognition is what sells podcasts, apparel and wrestling tickets.

The backstory matters too. He has said his first pro fight, in Guadalajara, Mexico, was supposed to pay $800 and the promoter offered about $200 and never paid. On the Chicago regional scene he "probably got $300" to fight Chris Curtis, and he was headed to law school at the University of Illinois before the UFC called.

Confirmed money: $477,000 across five disclosed or reported purses from 2016 to 2021, $200,000 in bonuses, and about $95,000 in outfitting pay across his three biggest recent events. That is roughly $770,000 we can point to, and it covers less than half his UFC fights and neither title fight.

The third-party estimates cluster around $2 million: Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports and ClutchPoints all land there, with ClutchPoints noting a spread of $1 million to $5 million across sources. Front Office Sports listed $1.2 million in career earnings using BetMGM and Tapology data. All of those are estimates, and most were written before the UFC 315 payday.

Our estimate: $4 million to $6 million in career gross earnings including the two title fights, and a net worth of $2 million to $4 million after taxes, management and the cost of running a camp across three gyms. The podcast and the RAF deals are the upside. The losing streak is the risk.