MANCHESTER, England – Belal Muhammad will combat Shavkat Rakhmonov and any No. 1 contender after UFC 304.
Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) dethroned Leon Edwards (22-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) to turn into welterweight champion in Saturday’s important occasion at Co-op Dwell in Manchester, England.
Muhammad was instantly referred to as out by Rakhamonov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), and the brand new champion welcomes the problem.
“Congratulations in your well-deserved victory, @bullyb170! I hope you retain your phrase and defend your title towards me if you’re prepared, champ.”
Congratulations in your well-deserved victory, @bullyb170! I hope you retain your phrase and defend your title towards me if you’re prepared, champ
— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) July 28, 2024
“Yeah, after all,” Muhammad stated on combating Rakhmonov on the UFC 304 post-fight information convention. “I’ve actually by no means turned down a combat. I’ve by no means backed down from anyone. I had so many individuals flip down fights towards me so, now I’m on the prime. I’m the person and for me, now it’s cementing my legacy as the very best welterweight to ever do it.
“I’m not going to sit down there and name out these random guys. Who’s subsequent in line, who’s greatest in line. I’m going to indicate you who I’m, what I can do. They thought Leon might stroll by me, now I’m going to stroll by all these different guys.”
It was a protracted look ahead to Muhammad to each get a title shot, and get the chance run issues again with Edwards after their March 2021 combat was dominated a no contest. Muhammad misplaced the primary spherical earlier than getting poked within the eye simply 18 seconds into Spherical 2, and needed to spend years listening to folks inform him he was en path to getting beat.
“I feel I’m the very best fighter on this planet, I do know I’m the very best fighter on this planet, I simply needed to show it and I needed to present you guys,” Muhammad stated. “We had three years to sit down there and I needed to dwell on that factor.
“That final combat of everyone saying, ‘Oh, he would have beat him, he would have gained the final different rounds.’ We didn’t even get began in that combat. This combat we acquired began. We simply dominated the champion. We made it look simple and we did it higher than Colby (Covington) did, higher than Usman did.”
For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 304.
Make sure you go to the MMA Junkie Instagram web page and YouTube channel to debate this and extra content material with followers of combined martial arts.
