Belal Muhammad doesn’t see himself being very far from a potential move up to middleweight to fight for his second title.
Muhammad got his welterweight title shot against Leon Edwards at UFC 304 after mounting a 10-fight unbeaten run. “Remember the Name” outdueled Edwards throughout five rounds in front of the latter’s home crowd in Manchester to earn a unanimous decision win.
Muhammad is already discussing a future move up to middleweight to attempt to become a two-division champion. Muhammad believes he is just two more title defenses away from being able to make that goal a reality.
Making his case, the Chicago native argues that neither of the two potential opponents for his first title defense, Kamaru Usman or Shavkat Rakhmonov, is a clear No. 1 contender. Muhammad notes that when he fought Edwards for the title, he was the undeniable title challenger. With Muhammad having already beaten several top 10 contenders on his way up to title contention, the champ believes he might not have much left to do at 170 pounds before considering a move up in weight.
“I’ve already beat so many top contenders. You could say Shavkat is next, but is he truly deserving to be next? Is Usman truly deserving to be next? There’s not really a clear No. 1 contender if you’re really thinking about it,” Muhammad told Grind City Media. “When Leon won, I was the clear No. 1 contender. I beat this guy, this guy, this guy. It’s like, alright, well he beat [Stephen] ‘Wonderboy’ [Thompson], and I beat like four guys after ‘Wonderboy.’
“There’s not really that guy where you’re like, ‘Oh, he beat a No.1 contender’. None of these guys beat a No.1 contender like I beat a No.1 contender. When I beat [Vicente] Luque, he was on a seven-fight winning streak. When I beat Gilbert Burns, he was on a two-fight winning streak. He was the No. 1 contender. He was right there. Sean Brady was 15-0 when I beat him. All these guys had big wins, huge wins, but it tells me I got like maybe two fights and now I can start talking about double-champ status because I already beat all these guys in the Top 10.”
