UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad recently defeated Leon Edwards to regain the championship title. The champ is set to face Shavkat Rakhmonov for his first title defence bout, and he plans on remaining in the division for a while.
Rakhmonov is considered one of the toughest opponents in welterweight. It is rumoured that if Muhammad defeats his challenger, there may not be any other worthy opponent, but the champ believes there is a whole line-up for him to run through in the division.
“In general, with any fighter, you have to cement yourself as the leader in the division and the guy that there’s nobody that can beat.” Muhammad said. “I think after Shavkat, you’ve got a couple of guys that are there. You got Ian Garry, you got JDM (Jack Della Maddalena), and you got Kamaru Usman. But some of those guys are going to have to fight each other now.
“There’s no just waiting on the sidelines saying, ‘I’m next. I got next, I earned it.’ I don’t think nobody’s really earned that next spot left. So, there’s going to be guys that are going to be taking losses. The cream has to rise to the top.”
Taking on challengers and defending the title may take a while. However, Muhammad is ready to give it all he’s got and maintain dominance. Muhammad has fought once in the past 17 months, but that inactivity is not down to his doing. Muhammad had to wait for then-champion Leon Edwards to settle his business with Colby Covington before cashing in on his opportunity at UFC304 and defeating the champ.
“Maybe one or two more fights, I think then I could start talking about middleweight and could start talking about double champ status.” Muhammad said. “When you look at the guys I’ve fought – what do I have? Six or seven wins in the top 10 or top 15 of my division right now. So I’ve already fought all these guys even before getting to the title.
“So now that I’m at the champion status, it’s like, well OK. Now I probably only got a couple more left before I can start talking about the bums at 185.”
Although Muhammad is set to face Rakhmonov soon, he has his sights set on Pereira and has mentioned plans to get into the fighter’s bout schedule. In a recent interview with John Morgan, Muhammad spoke about embarking on a campaign to set up a bout with Alex Pereira.
“I love to fight. It’s so hard to stay healthy in this game that if I’m healthy. I wanna be in the cage,” Muhammad said. “People are like, ‘Oh, we thought you were gonna wait a year to defend, and you’re gonna push it longer because it took you this long to get in.’ Sitting on the couch doesn’t get you paid. Sitting on the couch doesn’t make me happy. I wanna get happy by competing. I love to compete, and it’s such a small window in this game where you don’t know what tomorrow is gonna hold that I’d rather stay busy.
“The hardest thing for me was that wait (after beating Gilbert Burns),” Muhammad continued. “I wanted to get into the cage. I wanted to fight. And then for 2025, I’m trying to get on that Alex Pereira schedule. … Next year, for myself, is just (about) staying busy.”
The plans for this matchup are still in the future. However, for now, the champ has to focus on defeating Rakhmonov at Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena.
