My and everyone else's prediction of this fight comes down to whether or not you think Ian can defend the takedowns and if he can't does it matter? If Ian can keep this standing, then without question he should win right? He's longer, faster, more accurate and more powerful. That's not to say Belal's striking sucks, it's certainly serviceable, but they are not on the same level in the striking. We have seen both of them in similar matchups to this. Belal lost to JDM and Ian lost to Shavkat. The difference between those losses though is it felt like Ian made adjustments in the fight and had multiple ways to win, where Belal has one gameplan and it works or it doesn't. I need to go Ian here and if the judges are consistent with the rest of the world, he should win a hard fought decision.

Belal Muhammad

Belal Muhammad is a non stop wrestler who averages more than 2 takedowns per fight. He has solid fight IQ and knows when he should wrestle and when he should strike. He has a reputation for being a boring fighter, but the reality is that he comes forward, puts on pressure and sticks to a gameplan. He has decent striking as well and while it may not win him fights at the highest level, it has contributed to his rise to the title. He is coming off the title loss to JDM where he had a handful of takedowns but couldn't rack up damage or control.

Ian Garry

Ian Garry is a solid striker with crazy hand speed and fantastic footwork. He is hitable but lands an impressive almost 6 significant strikes per minute and has solid enough takedown defense to keep most fights standing. While he does have power, it is not necessarily one punch KO power, its more timing and speed that catches his opponents off guard. He has been training with Chute Box for a little while now and while they haven't bestowed their signature aggression upon him, they have improved his grappling quite a bit.