Belal Muhammad is calling the shots atop Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) Welterweight division.
UFC 304 saw a change to the 170-pound champion in Manchester, England last month (July 27, 2024). In the slow-burn to their inevitable rematch, Muhammad and the now-former champion, Leon Edwards, developed a certain amount of bad blood, making the match up more compelling than its March 2021 predecessor.
Ultimately, Muhammad got the last laugh when he defeated Edwards by a predominantly one-sided unanimous decision. With Edwards’ performance and brief title reign in consideration, it’s unlikely he’ll get the trilogy tilt next, leading most to believe the undefeated 18-0 top contender, Shavkat Rakhmonov, is next. Muhammad, however, isn’t so sure it’s that obvious.
“I’ve already beat so many top contenders,” Muhammad told Grind City Media. “You could say Shavkat’s next but is he truly deserving to be next? Is [Kamaru] Usman truly deserving to be next? There’s not really a clear No. 1 contender if you’re really thinking about it. When Leon won, I was the clear No. 1 contender. I beat this guy, this guy, this guy. He’s like, ‘Oh, he beat [Stephen] ‘Wonderboy’ [Thompson] and I beat like four guys after ‘Wonderboy.’
“There’s not really that guy where you’re like, ‘Oh, he beat a No. 1 contender,’” he continued. “None of these guys beat a No. 1 contender. I beat a No. 1 contender. When I beat [Vicente] Luque, he was on a seven-fight winning streak. When I beat Gilbert Burns, he was on a two-fight winning streak. He was a No. 1 contender. He was right there. Sean Brady was 15-0 when I beat him. All these guys had big wins, huge wins.”
The win over Edwards kept Muhammad unbeaten in his last 11 fights (24-3, 1 no contest). Admitting his interest in becoming the greatest Welterweight of all time, Muhammad would like to rack up title defenses to prove himself as such. At the same time, because of what he views as limited options, a Middleweight jump is in mind.
“It tells me I got like maybe two fights and now I can start talking about double-champ status because I already beat all these guys in the top 10,” Muhammad concluded.