Belal Muhammad still wants to rebook Shavkat Rakhmonov fight

UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad is still interested in rebooking a fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov – if he can get through Jack Della Maddalena.

As we know, Belal Muhammad is the current king of the welterweights. He earned that title courtesy of his one-sided victory over Leon Edwards last year. Ever since then, questions have arose regarding what would be next for the champion. Initially, he was scheduled to defend the belt against Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Unfortunately, that fell apart as a result of an injury suffered by the champ. Now, after Shavkat also picked up an injury, Belal Muhammad has been booked to battle it out with Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 315. While Belal is seen by many as the favorite, JDM is as dangerous as they come at 170 pounds.

For Belal Muhammad, though, he’s still focused on a potential collision with Shavkat at some point in the future.

Belal Muhammad still wants Shavkat Rakhmonov fight

“I feel like he deserves it. He earned it with the Ian Garry fight,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “It’s so easy to get injured in this sport. The training is the hardest part of the sport. We just saw it recently with (Dan) Hooker, and with Arman (Tsarukyan). It sucks, and like I said, me building my legacy, I want to take these guys’ 0s.

“The next younger generation. That’s the JDMs, that’s the Shavkats. Unless there’s a big fight with (Joaquin) Buckley or if he goes out there and gets a big win over somebody, I think he could earn it. But right now, I’m looking at him then I’m looking at Shavkat.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

Muhammad is ready to try and prove a point as champion but if he wants to stay at the top, he’ll have to go through some seriously intimidating challengers.