Belal Muhammad Blasts former UFC Champ: ‘Kamaru Usman’s One in Three – He’s Gotta Go Through Me’
No matter how good Kamaru Usman looked in his most recent trip to the Octagon, all roads to the welterweight title go through Belal Muhammad.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ delivered a vintage performance at UFC Atlanta, landing a dominant decision victory over Joaquin Buckley. With the victory, Usman believes he’s done more than enough to climb right back into the title picture at 170. However, Muhammad sees things differently.
As it stands, the entire division is awaiting the outcome of reigning champion Jack Della Maddalena’s yet-to-be-announced fight with former lightweight king Islam Makhachev. But with Muhammad still holding strong as the top-ranked contender at welterweight, ‘Remember The Name’ believes anyone who wants a crack at the winner of JDM vs. Makhachev will have to deal with him first.
“He has to go through me,” Muhammad said matter-of-factly during an interview with MMA Junkie. “I think I’m still number one, the number one ranked guy. It was a war, it was Fight of the Night. If JDM is still the champion, who wouldn’t want to see that fight again? For me, all these guys got to look to try to fight me. Usman’s acting like he deserves a heavyweight title fight after beating Buckley, who can’t wrestle, and acts like he’s still the champion.
“I’m like, ‘Bro, you’re one and three out of your last four fights.’ He’s trying to avoid it, but at the end of the day, I’m still the number one guy, and I think whoever fights me, whoever that fight’s going to get next, they’re going to have to go through me.”
Is Belal Muhammad Right?
While Kamaru Usman’s status as a former world champion and an undeniable draw curries him some favor, the fact remains that the ex-titleholder has only won one fight in the last four years — and that came against a guy who is yet to break into the division’s top five.
Usman has name value, but the fact remains that fighters like Shavkat Rakhmonov, Sean Brady, and Belal Muhammad have been far more active and far more successful in their respective campaigns over the last few years.
