In the lead-up to his UFC 304 main event on July 27 against welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, Belal Muhammad has been outspoken about fellow 170lb contender, Colby Covington.
Belal Muhammad will finally get his chance to compete for undisputed UFC gold on July 27, when he takes on Leon Edwards for the welterweight title, in a rematch three years in the making.
Following their no-contest, ‘Remember The Name’ has gone on to win five more fights in a row, maintaining his 10-fight undefeated streak. His last win came against Gilbert Burns at UFC 288, last May.
Belal Muhammad slams Colby Covington in rant as he compares him to Sean Strickland
The 36-year-old likely holds a grudge with former title challenger, Colby Covington, as instead of Muhammad competing for the title last December, ‘Chaos’ was favored and given his third title fight.
After being dominated by ‘Rocky’ Edwards, the American hasn’t fought since but has recently flirted with the idea of fighting former lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira.
Muhammad has struck the 36-year-old in a fierce rant, comparing Covington to former middleweight champion, Sean Strickland.
“Honestly, Colby Covington just needs to retire, there’s literally nothing left for him,” Muhammad told the Schmo.
“He’s still trying to attest to his glory days 3 or 4 years ago when they thought he was good, but I think everyone figured out now that he sucks and I think that right now he’s just trying to figure out who’s gonna be the next person that he can beat up and then he can get on the mic and talk trash.
“He’s kind of like Sean Strickland where he doesn’t have the belt anymore no one cares what he has to say,” the title challenger continued.
Muhammad says he will never fight Islam Makhachev despite Makhachev’s comments
Ahead of the biggest fight of his career thus far, the 36-year-old has been training with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, and their team.
The current lightweight champion, Makhachev, is weighing up the idea of moving up to welterweight to try and capture a second belt. His next fight will likely come against Arman Tsarukyan in October and following that, he will undoubtedly make the move.
With that, the Russian said he would have to have conversations with his team if Muhammad was to go on and win the 170lb title because of their friendship and having trained together.
Despite that, Muhammad has admitted that he wouldn’t fight Makhachev if he became the champion.
“Nah, I would never fight (Makhachev), he’s my brother, right. But like I said, I said it a couple of months ago, I literally think he could go up to 185 (lbs) and win the belt. People don’t know how big and strong he is, and how talented he is.
“If he didn’t have to cut weight, 185, he could go up there and beat these guys, he’s as big as these guys, I’ve seen (Dricus) Du Plessis, I’ve seen (Israel) Adesanya in person, and with Islam’s set of skills I think he could dominate a lot of guys up there.”