Belal Muhammad’s Coach Eyes Legacy Fight in Nov-Dec, Avoids New York Return

Belal Muhammad’s coach Louis Taylor has given his thoughts on what should come next for the UFC welterweight champion.

Last month, Belal Muhammad shocked the world. He defeated Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in Manchester, England to become the new king of the welterweight division – and he did so fairly emphatically.

Ever since then, the masses have been wondering what’s next for him. Of course, there are a parade of contenders looking to knock him off his perch, and you’d have to imagine the UFC is salivating at the prospect of really testing the new champion.

Alas, there’s been no confirmation as to who will be next just yet. With that being said, the aforementioned Louis Taylor has a couple of ideas.

The next step for Belal Muhammad

“If you watch Belal’s career, the [year-long gap] that we had to wait from the Gilbert Burns fight until the Leon [Edwards] fight, that was literally the longest layoff Belal has ever had. It made me nervous stepping up after such a long layoff into such a high-caliber bout. I think we should fight in November [or] December… It would be great.”

“I mean I would prefer ‘no-knees’ [Kamaru] Usman. But no, no, no… Both of those guys are well-deserving and well-respected. Again if you go for the numbers game it’s Usman. If you go for the legacy game, taking someone’s 0 [undefeated record] it would be Shavkat.”

Quotes via Sportskeeda

At this point in his career, Belal Muhammad has already accomplished what he set out to do in mixed martial arts. Of course, he’ll still be hungry to prove himself, but nobody can ever take away what he’s accomplished up to this point.

In terms of who will be next, Shavkat Rakhmonov seems to be the leading contender – but we’re not quite at the point where the promotion is ready to confirm anything.