Newly crowned UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad has responded to Shavkat Rakhmonov’s claim that he turned down a title defense against him at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City on October 5th due to timing issues.
The No.3 ranked Rakhmonov, who had voiced his fears that Muhammad wasn’t going to live up to his word of being an active champion, might not like the titleholder’s response though, as he’s suggesting that the UFC should put together a title eliminator first.
“Inactive? Lol I’m still on trial and Shavkat hasn’t fought since 2023,” Muhammad wrote on X. “I think Shavkat and Usman should fight to find the real No. 1 contender.”
Inactive? Lol I’m still on trial and Shavkat hasn’t fought since 2023 I think Shavkat and usman should fight to find the real number one contender pic.twitter.com/7fKYMZsqbl
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) August 30, 2024
For the record, Rakhmonov’s last fight was at the very end of 2023, beating Stephen Thompson by a 2nd round rear-naked choke at UFC 296 on December 16th.
That took the 29-year-old Rakhmonov’s winning streak in the UFC to six fights, and his overall career record to 16-0.
Muhammad’s suggestion that the rising star fight Usman next makes some sense purely from a rankings perspective given that the former champ is ranked one place above him at No.2, but less so when you consider that ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ has now lost three fights in a row.
Rakhmonov’s form has been undeniably impressive, and given that it was UFC officials who were pushing for the title fight against Muhammad to happen in the first place, it could well be that they’d prefer to just hold off and have this title showdown take place at one of their other upcoming PPV events instead.
