UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad will face Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310. The bout is scheduled to take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on December 7th.
The fight promises to be interesting, as Rakhmonov has a record of TKOs throughout his career. However, Muhammad believes Rakhmonov has never faced a challenging opponent like him.
“He’s mentally tough, he’s mentally strong. If it comes down to grit for grit, he’s going to beat a lot of these guys based off of his toughness and his will to win.” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “Now you’re going against someone with a stronger will. Now you’re going against somebody that’s tougher. You’re going against somebody that won’t back down, won’t fold.
“So now, it’s how he’s going to react now. I don’t think that he’s really had to face that type of adversity in the UFC yet. He really hasn’t. He’s always been in the lead. Now, he’s going to be falling behind. Now, you’re going to be getting to later rounds. When it starts getting tougher, and you can’t breathe, and you’re getting tired, and this is not working, and that’s not working, how do you make your adjustments?
Muhammad believes that Rakhmonov has not been challenged by staying in the cage for long. He thinks the fighter doesn’t have the stamina to face him. He says he will be a new experience for the undefeated champ, who has never gone beyond three rounds in his career.
“I just think that he doesn’t get tired, this, this and this – he hasn’t been in front of me,” Muhammad said. “No matter who you are, who’s in front of me, you’re going to get tired fighting me. I don’t care what your path was like, what your cardio regiment is, I’m a different fighter. I’m a different pace than anybody you’ve ever seen.”
“We see weaknesses in these guys,” Muhammad said. “He may have a zero next to his name, but we see holes. That’s what we see in those zeros, those are the holes that we see, and we’re going to walk through those holes.”
