Belal Muhammad doesn’t think a fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Kamaru Usman will happen.
Chimaev (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and Usman (20-3 MMA, 15-2 UFC) verbally agreed to fight each other on social media, but top contender Muhammad believes it’s just noise. Chimaev hasn’t competed since submitting Kevin Holland in a catchweight bout last September, and Usman fell short in regaining his welterweight title from champion Leon Edwards at UFC 286 in March.
“This new Twitter age is kind of annoying,” Muhammad told The Schmo. “Khamzat’s one of the guys, kind of like a McGregor. He wants the attention, so he’ll throw out a random tweet here and there, but nothing ever comes of it, right? When they say that, I’m like, ‘Bro, that fight’s not happening.’
“They’ll talk about it, they’ll both say something about it, and then there won’t be nothing else. You’ll see, ‘Oh, Khamzat’s gonna fight this guy, Khamzat’s gonna fight that guy.’ So I think it’s literally just talk to stay in the news, stay relevant.”
Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) himself was angling for a fight with Usman, but after beating former title challenger Burns, he’s hoping to leapfrog Colby Covington and be the one to challenge welterweight champion Edwards next.
“We’re guaranteed a title shot, we’ve just got to wait what happens with these two dorks, Colby and Leon,” Muhammad said. “There’s nothing that’s coming from it. I’m hoping that (UFC president) Dana (White) is realizing that we got this guy who’s actually fighting, a guy that took a fight on three weeks’ notice, a guy that came off the couch, a guy that dominated a ranked opponent.
“‘Two weeks’ notice during Ramadan, we called him, we needed him, he came and showed up, so maybe we’ll give him a title shot in Abu Dhabi like Leon wants,’ which makes the most sense in the world. I’m hoping that’s what happens, but you never know.”
