Belal Muhammad believes that Leon Edwards, the man believed to be next in line for his shot at the UFC welterweight title, has been granted “Dana White Privilege,” and that he is more deserving of the next shot than Edwards is.
Belal, fresh off of his unanimous decision win over Vicente Luque at UFC Vegas 51 on Saturday night, now likely finds himself within the rarified air of the top 5 of his division. However, he is nowhere near satisfied yet at all, and has made it clear that he is not content sitting tight to see how events unfold around him.
Belal Muhammad convinced that “Rocky” Edwards gets preferential treatment
In the post fight press conference at UFC Vegas 51, “Remember The Name” Muhammad made his strong feelings very clearly known, re-iterating his firm belief that Leon Edwards is being given an easier path to a welterweight title shot than he is. During the press conference, Muhammad said:
“None of these guys are fighting the contenders in the division, none of these guys have the guts to do that. I’m the one that’s going through 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I’m the one saying yes to the toughest in the division. Leon may have more wins than me, but he doesn’t have the quality of wins that I have.”
Muhammad decided to go even further on his thoughts, and made it crystal clear that he is convinced that he is more deserving of a shot at current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman than Leon Edwards is:
“I do. I don’t think he deserves to fight for the title. I think he has that Dana White privilege, but whatever. I don’t expect to be handed anything, I had to fight for everything I got. And I have to be willing to keep doing it.”
Edwards is strongly expected to face Usman around July for the welterweight title, although nothing has been officially confirmed in any capacity by either Dana White or the UFC. Contrastingly, Belal Muhammad has made it clear that if he isn’t next in line for the welterweight title, then he wants to fight either newly ranked number 3 welterweight Khamzat “Borz” Chimaev or Colby “Chaos” Covington – a fight which seems to particularly motivate Muhammad.