MIAMI – If Belal Muhammad won’t get a welterweight title shot, he’s open to seeking fun fights at middleweight.
Muhammad (22-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) is unbeaten in his past nine fights, but has been passed up by Colby Covington as No. 1 contender. Jorge Masvidal even could have been in the running for a shot had he not lost to Gilbert Burns in this past Saturday’s UFC 287 co-headliner.
So if Muhammad isn’t going to inch closer to a rematch with welterweight champion Leon Edwards, he’s happy to move up and go after the likes of Khamzat Chimaev (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC).
“At that point, I’m just going to go up to 185, honestly,” Muhammad told reporters backstage at UFC 287. “I’m going to go look for Chimaev again. He moved up. I can fight at 185 – I’m not worried about it. So I’ll move up, look for him, (and) maybe he’ll finally come out and play that game. I made it to the top at 170. (At) 185, I’ll do the same thing.
“If I’m not going to get a title fight, just give me the fights that really get me excited. Give me like a Sean Strickland – somebody that I dislike, somebody that I hate, that would be fun to punch in the mouth.”
UFC president Dana White initially planned to match Muhammad up with rising contender Shavkat Rakhmonov next, but Muhammad doesn’t think it makes sense to have to face another unbeaten prospect.
“For me, that’s just going backwards again,” Muhammad said. “I went backwards to fight Sean Brady – an undefeated prospect who they thought was the next big thing, and there were guys ahead of me that didn’t have fights.
“Right now, they said, ‘He just needs that big name that’s going to get him that spot,’ and I’m looking at Kamaru Usman. He was the former champ, the guy they all considered the GOAT of the division. Nothing but respect, but it’s like if that’s the name that’s finally going to get me over the top …”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.
