Having entered the welterweight top five, Belal Muhammad has his sights set on a top name and two-time title challenger for his next outing.
Muhammad joined the elite at 170 pounds with an emphatic performance at the final UFC event of 2021. In the co-main event slot, “Remember The Name” faced divisional veteran and elite striker Stephen Thompson.
Despite being controlled in his previous fight with Gilbert Burns, many expected “Wonderboy” to get his championship charge back on track by halting the surge of Muhammad. Instead, the 38-year-old fell to back-to-back losses for the second time in his career and slid further away from a third UFC title shot.
Across 15 minutes, Muhammad consistently dragged Thompson to the ground and beat him up. The result was a convincing unanimous decision victory for the Chicago native on the judges’ scorecards.
Muhammad Explains Why Masvidal Should Accept A Fight With Him
Since extending his unbeaten streak to seven, Belal Muhammad hasn’t shied away from pushing for his next opponent. Having expressed interest in facing surging brute Khamzat Chimaev, top contender Colby Covington, and running it back with Leon Edwards, the 33-year-old has now trained his aim on Jorge Masvidal.
During an interview with TMZ Sports, Muhammad made his desire to stay active and fight for a title shot clear. To achieve that, he believes he should go through “Gamebred” next.
Explaining why the matchup makes sense for Masvidal, Muhammad suggested a victory for the Miami native would allow him the chance to make up for some prior losses.
“I brought up Masvidal. (I’m) right ahead of him. He fought for the title twice, I just beat Maia, who fought for the title twice, I beat Wonderboy, who fought for the title twice, I’ll take Masvidal, who fought for the title twice. I beat two guys that beat him already back-to-back. So maybe for him, beating me would erase those two losses a little bit. I think that fight really makes sense.
“Obviously, big-name value fight (is against) Masvidal. He’s been saying he wants to fight guys that will get him to a title shot, I think fighting a guy like me, who’s right above him, #5, makes a lot of sense… Me against him would be a really good fight, and stylistically, I think think it’s a great fight, and personally, too… My manager slapped his manager in the face, I used to be with his manager but my team fired him, so there’s some stuff there. We could make something out of that one.”
While it remains to be seen whether Masvidal would be willing to drop his pursuit of clashes with arch-nemesis Edwards and former teammate Covington in favor of a fight with Muhammad, the clash certainly makes sense in terms of rankings. It would also achieve his goal of bringing him closer to a trilogy with Kamaru Usman should he emerge victorious over “Remember The Name.”
How do you think a fight between Belal Muhammad and Jorge Masvidal would play out?
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