Belal Muhammad is more than happy to face anyone the promotion puts in front of him. Except for Colby Covington.
‘RememberThe Name’ delivered a dominant five-round performance against Leon Edwards in Manchester last month, leaving with the welterweight world title wrapped around his waist.
Without missing a beat, the failed three-time UFC title challenger immediately went to work on social media, slamming Muhammad and fishing for another undeserved shot at UFC gold.
“It’s funny. He’s literally the biggest clown in the UFC,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “It’s embarrassing to see how he’s trying to grasp for any sort of attention and say anything. ‘Let me catch him outside.’ Bro, I wish I see you outside. Let’s see what you would do. I literally called him out since 2017 when I fought in Australia. This guy’s a coward.
“But that’s what he does. He shied away from that Ian Garry fight. He said it wasn’t worth his time. If he would have won that fight, his name could have been right back in the mix. So now he looks dumb. He’s a clown. I’m wondering what he’s going to do next.
“There’s nobody out there that I see him saying yes to. He’s going to wait and hope that Tony Ferguson comes back and fights one more fight and then he’s going to win that and say, ‘See I deserve to be in there, look what I just did to Tony Ferguson!’”
Going 2-3 in his last five fights with all three of the losses coming in title fights, it’s hard to imagine ‘Chaos’ weaseling his way into another shot without first picking up a few noteworthy wins in the division.
His latest appearance inside the Octagon delivered dismal results with him being systematically shut down by Leon Edwards over the course of five rounds at UFC 296.
“There’s zero percent chance,” Muhammad said of Covington getting another title shot. “I said he sucked before the Leon Edwards fight and they gifted him the title shot. There’s nobody in the top five that he could beat. There’s nobody in there where I could see him and say, ‘Well, if he beats him, there’s a chance.’
“I don’t see him accepting any top-five fights and I definitely don’t see him beating any top fighters if he gets that chance.”
Belal Muhammad ready to hand Shavkat Rakhmonov his first career loss
Instead, Belal Muhammad would rather focus his attention on some of the legit killers atop the welterweight division. Specifically, undefeated finisher Shavkat Rakhmonov.
“He’s the boogeyman,” Muhammad said of Rakhmonov. “The guy that everyone thinks will dominate everybody. When I look at stylistically what I’ll be able to do to him and what I’ve seen, there’s nothing he shows me where I’m like, ‘Oh man, I’ve got to be afraid of this or that.’ He’s not a specialist anywhere. Obviously, he’s a specialist in finishing, but I’ve only been finished once in my life.”
‘Nomad’ is a perfect 18-0 in his mixed martial arts career with a 100% finish rate. In his last three outings, Rakhmonov has put away Neil Magny, Geoff Neal, and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. He currently sits as the No. 3 ranked contender in the division.
