Following his solid win over Vicente Luque, Belal Muhammad has set his sights on fighting Colby Covington next.
Belal Muhammad used fast footwork, slick striking, and more than a little wrestling to avenge his 2016 loss to Vicente Luque. The two went at it for five rounds, and at the end Muhammad had his hand raised with 49–46, 49–46, and 48–47 scores from the judges.
Following his win, Muhammad passed on calling out the champ in favor of demanding a fight with Colby Covington.
“I’m going to stop calling for the champ, cuz nobody wants to give me that shot,” Muhammad said. “So let me get the big mouth Karen. Colby Covington’s out here calling out 155ers. Come fight a real 170-pounder, you coward! I’m a real ‘70 pounder.”
“I’m winning fights. I’m not Masvidal off two losses. I’m not Woodley off five losses. I’m ‘Bully B’ off seven wins. Come fight a real challenge, coward!”
During the UFC Vegas 51 post-fight press conference, Belal Muhammad expanded on his callout.
“Who’s the only one in the division with a better run than I am on?” Belal asked. “I’m literally fighting Maia, Wonderboy, Luque. Like who is Colby fighting? Colby’s fighting guys off of two losses in a row. Who’s Leon fighting? Leon’s fighting 155ers. Like none of these guys are fighting the contenders in the division. None of these guys had 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.”
As for Leon Edwards, who is set to get the next title shot once Kamaru Usman heals up a hand injury, Muhammad believes he’s not a worthy challenger.
“I don’t think he deserves to fight for the title,” he said. “I think he’s got that Dana White privilege but whatever. Like I said, I don’t expect to be handed anything. I’ve fought for everything I’ve got and I’m willing to keep doing that.”
“I don’t even think Leon has a fight. They’re saying Usman but I don’t think Usman’s ready for that yet so if Leon’s going to wait all the way to September, October, it just doesn’t make any sense. I think [me fighting Leon] would make sense but I know you guys are gonna post the headline ‘He wants to fight Leon’ and then the fans will be like ‘Crybaby, crybaby, poke in the eye,’ blah blah blah. So I don’t even want to call him out because I don’t want to offend anybody.”
“So like I said, the two best guys that are above me that are winning are Khamzat and Colby and neither one of them has fights.”
While Muhammad had effectively said he was interested in fighting Leon Edwards, Khamzat Chimaev, or Colby Covington, he asked us to stick with his main target when it came to writing this article.
“Colby the coward Karen, you could just make that the headline,” he said.
But if his chosen fight can’t come together?
“I’d rather stay busy,” Belal said. “If the title fight’s gonna happen in July I want to be on that card. With Leon’s luck his fights get cancelled every other day. So I’ll assume something will happen where he’ll trip on a wire or something and then I’ll step in and fight Usman.”