Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards have a spicy history. It all started back in 2021 at UFC Fight Night with an eye poke that left the match result being No Contest and both fighters hungry to face each other again. Fast forward to UFC 304 in Manchester, where ‘Rocky’ was the hometown hero and the reigning champ. On the other hand, Muhammad was just another challenger, or so everyone thought. But he ended up flipping that script!
Muhammad didn’t just win; he dominated his opponent. He outboxed and outwrestled, leaving Edwards looking like he had just seen a ghost. Now, fans might think Muhammad would have moved on after such a decisive victory. However, that was not the case with the new welterweight champ. Speaking to Michael Bisping, the fighter with the moniker ‘Remember The Name’ said,
“It got to me, it pissed me off. That’s why even now, where I hate to even bring up fights, when I beat a fighter, I never want to kick a man while he’s down. But Leon, I’ll kick when he’s down, I don’t care. I’m going to make him pay because they said I wasn’t worth it, they said he was going to walk through me, they said I was going to be an easy fight.”
According to Muhammad, it’s all about respect, or rather, the lack of it. Before their rematch, Edwards and his team treated the Chicago native like a stepping stone. They said he was not worth it and that Edwards would walk right through him.
Now, ‘Remember The Name’ is on a mission. He is not just content with the win; moreover, he wants to rub it in. Also, one thing is for sure: Muhammad’s not planning on giving Edwards a trilogy fight anytime soon. He has got that belt, and he is holding onto it tight.
Belal Muhammad Reveals Why He Thinks UFC Will Pit Shavkat Rakhmonov Against Him
The 36-year-old fighter shocked the world when he dethroned then-reigning welterweight champion Edwards at UFC 304. Now, he is sitting pretty at the top, playing matchmaker in his head. So, who is next for the new champ? That’s the million-dollar question, and apparently, the UFC already has an answer for it.
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Shavkat Rakhmonov, the undefeated Kazakh phenom, has been tearing through the division like a hot knife through butter. And Muhammad thinks he knows why the UFC is itching to match him up with Rakhmonov over Kamaru Usman.
“I think just the fans in the UFC, I see them looking at Shavkat like that next guy in line. [If] Usman beats him, it’s [the UFC is] like ‘we just lost the undefeated guy, new blood, and we just have Usman back in the mix again… So I think they want new blood in general, so I think that’s why they would probably want to give me Shavkat next,” said Muhammad in the same interview with Michael Bisping.
According to Muhammad, it’s all about protecting the golden goose. An undefeated challenger is way easier to sell for the UFC than a guy coming off three losses. So, in the champion’s mind, the UFC wants to keep Rakhmonov’s record pristine while avoiding another Usman reign.
Also Read: Belal Muhammad Reveals Having Pre-Made Retirement Plans Before Leon Edwards Fight
