Belal Muhammad Decides: Kamaru Usman or Shavkat Rakhmonov next?
With Belal Muhammad now sitting atop the welterweight division, ex-titleholder Kamaru Usman may have found his way back in.
Having lost back-to-back bouts against Leon Edwards, the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ has been stuck sitting on the outside looking in. That’s no longer the case after Muhammad delivered a dominant five-round showing against ‘Rocky’ to claim the 170-pound crown at UFC 304 in Manchester. Now, ‘Remember The Name’ has an assortment of potential contenders lining up.
Of them, the two most intriguing appear to be Usman and undefeated finisher Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Speaking with ESPN’s Heidi Androl while attending Saturday’s UFC event in Abu Dhabi, Muhammad was asked to choose who he’d rather face between them.
“Any one of them,” Muhammad replied. “Usman, obviously, I think, for legacy. He was one of the biggest names in the division. He’s under GSP, and I think he’s still got treading on the tires even though he lost a close fight to Leon and then a really close fight to to Khamzat. And like I said, I think name value, he has a bigger name.”
“But also, I wanna fight the boogeyman. The boogeyman that everybody says could beat anybody. He’s gonna walk through anybody. And the way my career has been, they’ve always been putting me as underdog.”
“I knew even after beating Leon, they would say, ‘Well, Shavkat will walk through him. He can’t do that to Shavkat.’ I’m just gonna keep doing it,” he added. “I’m gonna do it to every single one of the fighters in the division. Dana White’s just gotta give me a a time and a date, and I’m ready to go” (h/t MMA Mania).
Belal Muhammad plans to defend his title in 2024
Muhammad plans to be an active champion, targeting a return in either November or December. But first, he’ll have to heal up after eating a nasty elbow from Edwards in the closing seconds of their title tilt.
“The stupid nose thing in the last 10 seconds, I gotta get this healed up,” he said. “Once it’s healed up, I’ll get back in the gym, get back to work.”
Muhammad’s win over Edwards extended his unbeaten streak to 10, a run that dates back to his win over Curtis Millender at UFC 236 in April 2019. It was the first loss for ‘Rocky’ in more than eight years.
