The current welterweight champion isn’t short on potential challengers right now as he prepares to make his first title defense.
Belal Muhammad is already booked to face Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 315 due to Shavkat Rakhmonov not being available.
Another top contender at 170-pounds emerged this past weekend when Sean Brady dominated and submitted Leon Edwards in London.
With his only loss coming to the current champion, Brady has already gone back-and-forth with Muhammad on social media after the biggest win of his career.
However, it’s a rising welterweight contender that Renato Moicano believes will be the biggest test for ‘Remember The Name’ once he gets in position for a title shot.
Renato Moicano names Carlos Prates as the biggest threat to Belal Muhammad
During a recent episode of the Show Me The Money podcast, Renato Moicano gave his thoughts on how Sean Brady matches up with Belal Muhammad in a rematch.
The lightweight fan favorite went on to explain that he doesn’t believe that the American challenger can avenge his loss if he gets a shot at the title.
In fact, Moicano doesn’t see anyone inside the welterweight top 10 being able to beat this version of Muhammad right now.
With the caveat that it will take him some time to earn a title shot at 170-pounds which would give him time to continue improving, Moicano named his fellow Brazilian Carlos Prates as the biggest threat to the champion’s title reign.
‘The Nightmare’ was one of the breakout stars of 2024 with four consecutive wins and knockouts after arriving in the promotion via Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023.
Prates, who is ranked at #13, is now set to face the #10-ranked Geoff Neal at UFC 314 on April 12 where he will look to catapult himself into the top 10.
Moicano believes that the Fighting Nerds star has the right attributes to beat Muhammad rather than some of the top grapplers in the division.
“I think Carlos Prates. I think the problem with Sean Brady, they’re gonna nullify each other in the wrestling and Belal is better at striking than Sean Brady. Sean Brady needs to evolve. That’s why I think to beat Belal Muhammad now, you have to have a good distance, a good size, be tall, keep on the range because cardio-wise, like you were saying, we saw his training.
“He’s doing the conditioning and nobody works harder than him so I think right now, where he’s at, out-wrestling him is not going to be an option so you need to knock him out, that’s what I think… And maybe it’s because I want another Brazilian to have the shot to the belt but I think Carlos Prates is a solid guy to beat Belal Muhammad.”
We still have a lot to learn about Carlos Prates
Despite the fact that fight fans got to see Carlos Prates compete four times last year, there are still some unanswered questions surrounding him.
We still don’t know what the Brazilian looks like when he faces an elite grappler, hits the later rounds or is forced to overcome some adversity.
That being said, part of the reason that these questions exist is because Prates has been absolutely ruthless inside the Octagon thus far.
One thing we do know about the 31-year-old is that he has the killer instinct required to make the most of the striking exchanges against a dominant wrestler like Belal Muhammad.