Belal Muhammad has recommended a fight against Khamzat Chimaev.
The UFC Welterweight division is stacked with talent and in a weird spot, especially the top five. Reigning division champion Kamaru Usman continues to extend his dominant reign at the top while Colby Covington remains secured as the top contender who will likely not get a shot at the title soon after two failed attempts.
As the odd man out, Belal Muhammad is looking to be paired up with the higher-level competition.
Belal Muhammad wants to fight Khamzat Chimaev
In the latest episode of the Food Truck Diaries w/ Brendan Schaub, Belal Muhammad talked about competing against Khamzat Chimaev. Dana White had expressed interest in having ‘Borz’ take on Covington for the upcoming broadcast event. UFC on ABC 3 will take place on July 16, at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY.
“For me, I don’t think Colby’s going to take it, though. I don’t think Colby’s going to fight Khamzat, I think if you’re going to court saying that, ‘I’m accepting a fight.’
“Then the court is going to be like, ‘yo, you’re talking about you had brain damage, and we’re suing this guy, but you’re taking a fight. How? How are you training right now if you have brain damage'”
“I think I’m going to get obviously brushed over. They want Khamzat to be the next one to fight”
Since Covington is in an ongoing lawsuit against Jorge Masvidal, Muhammad suggested he face the second-ranked Chechen on the same card.
“I’m sitting there calling out everybody, I’m accepting it. Khamzat’s another one there, we were going back and forth on Twitter a little bit and he’s like, posting the GIF of me getting knocked out by Luque. I’m like, ‘beautiful, let’s go. You do it! Let’s get it'”
Muhammad also reinforced that Chimaev makes the most sense out of all possible options.
“Khamzat makes the most sense than everybody. If you want to play the Muslim card, to have two Muslim fighters headline a card in Abu Dhabi, I think that’d be huge.”
Muhammad “saw weaknesses” in Chimaev
Chimaev is coming off a hard-fought battle against the former title challenger Gilbert Burns at UFC 273. ‘Borz’ managed to come out on top in his only contest that went to the judges’ scorecards. While many were discounting Burns’ talents leading up to the bout, Chimaev faced his toughest test to date standing across the cage from him.
Speaking about Chimaev’s fight with Burns, Muhammad acknowledged his abilities but stated that there are shortcomings in his game.
“I saw weaknesses. Obviously, people were like, ‘oh man, he’s not as good as we thought he was,’ but I’m like, ‘yo, he showed that he has a chin. He showed that he got power.’ You’re fighting Gilbert Burns”
Belal Muhammad has been calling for a fight against a higher-ranked opponent following his win in a rematch with Vicente Luque. Chimaev sits atop the second spot waiting to sign his next fight while Covington figures out his legal matter with Masvidal.
