- Belal Muhammad only wants to defend his welterweight title twice before competing for the middleweight title
- “Remember The Name” said he already beat almost all top welterweight contenders before he won the title
Belal Muhammad thinks he has already beaten all the best welterweight contenders and might only defend his title twice then proceed to middleweight.
The champ only needs 2
“Remember The Name” is laser-focused on his goal to become a two-division champ. But at the same time, Muhammad also knows that the UFC will book him against a deserving contender at 170 first.
For Muhammad, there’s not a lot of worthy challengers left in the division as he almost wiped it out even before he dethroned Leon Edwards at UFC 304. However, the champ is open to defending his belt against probably two contenders before moving up to 185.
“I’ve already beat so many top contenders. You could say Shavkat’s next but is he truly deserving to be next? Is Usman truly deserving to be next? There’s not really a clear #1 contender, if you’re really thinking about it,” Muhammad told Grind City Media.
“None of these guys beat a number one contender like I beat a number one contender… What it tells me is that I’ve got maybe two fights and then I can start talking about double-champ status because I already beat all these guys in the top 10,” he added.
Belal Muhammad says he's two wins away from starting to talk about double-champ status:
"I've already beat so many top contenders. You could say Shavkat's next but is he truly deserving to be next? Is Usman truly deserving to be next? There's not really a clear #1 contender…… pic.twitter.com/1Cz1RyGKnq
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 6, 2024
Leon, No. Shavkat, maybe
Shortly after becoming the new welterweight champion, Muhammad already explained why “Rocky” doesn’t deserve a quick rematch. He then verbally agreed to take on Shavkat Rakhmonov as his first title challenger. Aside from Rakhmonov, former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is also being viewed as a potential contender.
However, it’s safe to say “Remember The Name” will be making sure that the contender who will earn the title shot is truly the most deserving.
Prior to earning a shot at Edward, Muhammad has defeated a wide array of top contenders at 170, including Gilbert Burns, Sean Brady, Vicente Luque and Stephen Thompson. In fact, he has gone unbeaten in nine of his 10 fights.
