'She had no idea who I was': Clueless news anchor asks UFC champion if he does 'street fighting' in painful interview

UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad endured a bizarre interview with a local news outlet in which the anchors seemingly had no idea who he was.

Muhammad recently achieved champion status with a dominating victory over Leon Edwards at UFC 304. Taking a literal victory lap, Muhammad stopped by WGN News in his home city of Chicago for an interview that quickly became awkward.

The painful interview started with anchor Tonya Francisco reading off the teleprompter to introduce Muhammad and co-anchor Amy Rutledge then positioning a question around Muhammad being the first UFC champion from Chicago.

After Muhammad explained where he was raised and what schools he went to, Francisco replied by saying, "That's so awesome."

Francisco then quickly revealed her stunning lack of knowledge on the subject.

"Is that how you got involved in U— is it ... not UFC fighting, it's mostly just street fighting, or ..." the anchor strangely asked.

"It's mixed martial arts," Muhammad explained.

"Is that how you got involved? Did your coach get you into it?" Francisco then asked, not realizing his coach is indeed his MMA coach.

Muhammad politely explained how his training has always been MMA-focused and that he combines the different disciplines involved.

'She had no idea who I was. She didn't do [any] research.'

However, Francisco wasn't finished with her out-of-left-field questions.

"So how do you train differently from boxing and from wrestling to become a mixed martial artist fighter?"

This line of questioning forced Muhammad to essentially repeat the fact that he trains for all the different aspects of MMA.

Relentlessly, Rutledge soon asked if Muhammad was "involved" with any of the amateur "boxing clubs for young people" around the city.

"No, I've never done any boxing," Muhammad reiterated.

The interview will be reminiscent of the early 2000s for many UFC fans, when the majority of the public and even the sporting world was largely unfamiliar with MMA. At the time, fighters spent most of their time in interviews trying to explain what MMA is and why it should be allowed to exist.

Muhammad expressed this feeling on Joe Rogan's "MMA Show 162" after he and the host discussed old UFC fights that involved headbutts. Headbutting was banned in the UFC in 1997.

"It's funny how you say the 'headbutt days,'" Muhammad said. "I did an interview yesterday with Chicago news, and the lady ... she had no idea who I was. She didn't do no research because she was like 'You're the champion of street fighting, right?’" the champion recalled.

"Imagine that," Rogan responded, flabbergasted. "You're the world champion, and this person hasn't even done five minutes of research on the sport you do."

"It was wild. People still think that," Muhammad replied, before Rogan started joking.

"You should have just started making s**t up," the comedian said, before suggesting Muhammad should have claimed fighters meet in alleys and fight with rolls of nickels in their hands.

Rogan went on to say that some people in the news aren't even human. "They're like robots. All they want to do is be on TV. They have no opinions, no personality."

Muhammad later revealed that the Chicago network actually has a sports anchor, who wasn't used to interview him. Instead, the champion said it felt like the anchors were only capable of reading a teleprompter.

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