UFC star Khamzat Chimaev has agreed to face fellow welterweight contender Belal Muhammad in Abu Dhabi, with the pair even setting a date for later this year.
Chimaev publicly made a callout to Muhammad, ranked No.5 in the division, promising to fight him if he agreed to leave his Palestinian flag at home. The fighters are both devout Muslims, but would be barred from coming to the octagon with the flag regardless due to the promotion's new policy on fighters having flags.
The Swedish fighter, ranked No.3 in the division, took to social media to say to Muhammad “I will fight you if you don’t take the Palestinian flag into battle," to which his rival responded: “Respect bro, I’ll bring a flag for you too and we both fight for Palestine. I can’t bring the flag down to battlefield anymore even if I wanted to.”
Chimaev didn't take long to respond to Muhammad, telling that the fight could happen in “October, Abu Dhabi”. The conversation ended amicably when Muhammad responded by. saying that the pair had a deal.
The UFC will return to Abu Dhabi's Etihad Arena on October 22 for UFC 281, which has yet to lock in a headliner. It will be their first visit to 'Fight Island' since last October, when Chimaev landed himself in the top 15 with a stunning first round stoppage of Li Jingliang.
Chimaev has never lost in his professional career, holding an 11-0 record which includes 10 stoppages, and just one journey outside of the second round. He most recently defeated Gilbert Burns by unanimous decision at UFC 273, looking at times to struggle with the higher end of competition in the promotion.
Muhammad, on the other hand, has lost three times in his career in the UFC, but has managed to get himself into the top five with a brilliant recent run of wins. He last lost in January of 2019 to Geoff Neal, and has competed eight times since.
He most recently avenged his loss to Vicente Luque with a dominant decision victory, after having taken out the renowned kickboxer Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson in December. He had a no-contest due to an eye poke against No.2-ranked Leon Edwards last year, and the Brit is now heading towards a title fight with Kamaru Usman.
Are you excited to see Belal Muhammad fight Khamzat Chimaev in Abu Dhabi? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
With Edwards tied up, and No.4-ranked Burns eyeing up a fight with Jorge Masvidal, Muhammad has essentially two options if he wants to move up; Chimaev or Colby Covington. And he feels the Swede is the tougher of the two, were he to choose.
“The tougher fight of the two I think would be Chimaev,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “For me I think Colby just beats guys based off of good cardio. And I think I got good enough cardio to keep up with him.
“Chimaev, as you’ve seen in his last fight, I think that his weakness is cardio, but his strength is power. Colby doesn’t really have power or anything special on the ground or anything that’s scary at all. Chimaev, obviously, has that one-punch power. And he’s showed that he has a chin too against Gilbert. So I think that he’d definitely be the tougher test of the two.”
