Robert Whittaker thinks Belal Muhammad trying to prove a point against Jack Della Maddalena cost him at UFC 315.

Muhammad (24-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) lost his welterweight title to Della Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) by unanimous decision in Saturday’s main event at Bell Centre in Montreal. Muhammad opted to stand and trade with Della Maddalena for the majority of the fight, which led to a broken nose, orbital bone, and a split lip.

Muhammad promised not to shoot one takedown, which he did for a significant amount of time before trying to mix things up. Whittaker was confused by Muhammad’s game plan.

“I expected more takedowns,” Whittaker said on his MMArcade Podcast. “When he mixed in the striking to bring Jack onto him, to mix into his shots, they were clean every time. I think his only two takedowns more or less were from the open mat, drawing Jack into him. Now why didn’t we see more of that? I can’t help but feel like Belal was trying to make a point striking with Jack for the first three rounds. If that’s the case, that is ridiculous. Jack is amazing at that mid-range boxing. One of my paths to victory for Jack was to embrace the dogfight and make Belal pay for every step he went forward and every time he walked away, which Jack did unbelievably.”

Muhammad has been known for his high-IQ fight style where he neutralizes his opponents’ strengths, and mixes in his grappling to stifle them.

“What brought Belal to the title and made him champion was the fact that he could punch, punch, shoot, punch, punch, punch,” Whittaker said. “He’s not Gilbert Burns on the ground. He’s not a guy that when he gets you on your back, he’s going to start working those tricky submissions, and you’re in a very dangerous spot. He is just that game. He’s that punch, punch, shoot, punch, punch, shoot, and we didn’t see that.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Robert Whittaker: Belal Muhammad’s UFC 315 strategy was ‘ridiculous’

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