UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad is tired of waiting on the sidelines. Muhammad, fresh off the back of his thunderous UFC 280 knockout win over Sean Brady, told MMAFighting that he’s the best bet to face another newcomer: Khamzat Chimaev.
“I think that’s literally the only fight to me. For me, it’s Leon [Edwards] or Khamzat, and I think that us two makes the most sense.”
Belal Muhammad Demands Khamzat Fight
Belal also dismissed the likelihood of Khamzat facing top-ranked welterweight Colby Covington. “I know they’re talking about Colby, but I don’t think Colby’s going to take that fight. Colby hasn’t taken a hard fight or a fight against a guy coming off a win since Kamaru [Usman]. Kamaru is the only guy he’s fought in his last eight fights that wasn’t on a two-fight losing streak.”
Muhammad doubled down, pointing out Covington’s lack of serious opposition compared to him. Covington has remained surprisingly silent since his victory over Jorge Masvidal at the start of the year. “Colby, he gets the credit as the guy that would be the champion if Kamaru wasn’t there, but who’s he beat?
He beat Masvidal on a three-fight losing streak. He beat [Tyron] Woodley on a five-fight losing streak. Other than that, it’s been nothing but lightweights. Why is this guy getting all this credit in the world when I’m the guy that’s beating ranked guys?
I beat [Vicente] Luque, who was on a seven-fight winning streak. I just beat ‘Wonderboy’ [Stephen Thompson], who was 3-1 out of his last four. I just beat this kid [Sean Brady] who was 15-0. I’ve beat four top-10 guys in the last year.
The only other guy that’s beating top-10 guys in the last year is Kamaru Usman. Nobody else is beating multiple top-10 guys. Even Khamzat’s only win against a ranked guy is Gilbert Burns, and that was a close, split decision, and he came in nine pounds overweight for his last one. I think I’m right underneath Kamaru [and] should be No. 2 in the division rankings-wise.
The fact that they still have Colby there doesn’t make any sense.” Muhammad continued, declaring himself a nightmare matchup for the undefeated Chechen. “I definitely do think I’m the harder matchup for [Khamzat].
I think my striking’s way better than Colby’s, and I’m comfortable being in that fire, where that last fight with Khamzat where he fought with Gilbert Burns, when he was in that fire, he got emotional and he started going against the game plan [and] he got tired. Colby’s not comfortable being in that fire.
Colby’s not comfortable – ‘if I can’t take you down and I have to strike with you’ – he’s not comfortable there.” Do you want to see Muhammad vs Khamzat? Let us know in the comments.
