While Muhammad is willing to fight ‘boogeyman’ Rakhmonov, he’s more interested in knocking off welterweight legend Usman.
Belal Muhammad is the new welterweight champion after defeating Leon Edwards via decision at UFC 304. And with a new champion comes new opportunities for the many contenders at 170.
Up until last week, former belt holder Kamaru Usman was stuck on the outside looking in after losing to Edwards twice. Now “The Nigerian Nightmare” is at the top of Muhammad’s list of potential title challengers.
Speaking to ESPN’s Heidi Androl in Abu Dhabi, “Remember The Name” was asked to choose between Kamaru Usman and Shavkat Rakhmonov as a title challenger.
“Any one of them,” Muhammad replied. “Usman, obviously, I think, for legacy. He was one of the biggest names in the division. He’s under GSP, and I think he’s still got treading on the tires even though he lost a close fight to Leon and then a really close fight to to Khamzat. And like I said, I think name value, he has a bigger name.”
“But also, I wanna fight the boogeyman,” he added. “The boogeyman that everybody says could beat anybody. He’s gonna walk through anybody. And the way my career has been, they’ve always been putting me as underdog.”
“I knew even after beating Leon, they would say, ‘Well, Shavkat will walk through him. He can’t do that to Shavkat.’ I’m just gonna keep doing it. I’m gonna do it to every single one of the fighters in the division. Dana White’s just gotta give me a a time and a date, and I’m ready to go.”
Belal has said he wants to be an active champion, and he confirmed he was ready to go as soon as a bad cut on his nose from a Leon Edwards elbow heals.
“The stupid nose thing in the last 10 seconds, I gotta get this healed up,” he said. “Once it’s healed up, I’ll get back in the gym, get back to work.”