UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad doesn’t believe the juice is worth the squeeze when it comes to the UFC 315 backup.
Belal Muhammad and welterweight contender Jack Della Maddalena headline an intriguing card at UFC 315 this Saturday in Montreal. Muhammad will make his first welterweight title defense after earning the belt over Leon Edwards at UFC 304 last July.
Muhammad was originally expected to face Shavkat Rakhmonov for his first title defense at UFC 310, but Muhammad withdrew due to an injury. After Rakhmonov defeated Ian Machado Garry in a short-notice booking, he suffered an injury and is sidelined from title contention indefinitely.
Garry is fresh off a win over Carlos Prates at UFC Kansas City earlier this month, and his request to be the UFC 315 backup fighter was granted. But if Garry is expecting a title shot for defeating Prates and backing up UFC 315, Muhammad believes he won’t get what he covets.
Belal Muhammad claims a former titleholder could ‘skip the line’ with a win
During a recent appearance on The Anik & Florian Podcast, Muhammad was asked what his reaction was when Garry was named the official UFC 315 backup.
“I had no knowledge [of it], and even when he said it in the cage, there’s no way this guy is about to strap up as the backup. Because he looked like he got beat up, especially in that fifth round [vs. Prates],” Muhammad said of Garry. “Is he going to make weight again and is it going to be worth it? Because I’m not pulling out, and I know Jack’s not pulling out coming all the way from Australia…
“But he’s trying, right? Especially in a division now where people are saying there isn’t a clear number one contender. Shavkat, we don’t know when he’s coming back, and then you have [Sean Brady] who looked great against Leon Edwards. Kamaru [Usman] and [Joaquin] Buckley, they’re about to fight each other.
“So I think for [Ian], he’s just trying to put his name in the mix and think he’s going to cement himself as being the backup,” Muhammad continued. “But you never know what the UFC wants…I think if Kamaru wins, they’ll make Kamaru skip the line, no matter what.”
Muhammad and Kamaru Usman have had a budding feud for months, and Usman is scheduled to return to the cage at UFC Atlanta next month against Joaquin Buckley. It’s his first welterweight bout since consecutive losses to Edwards, including his most recent 170 lb booking at UFC 286.
Another intriguing element of the welterweight title picture is UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who could potentially move up to welterweight if Maddalena wins at UFC 315. Makhachev and Muhammad have dismissed fighting each other after their time training together under the tutelage of Khabib Nurmagomedov.
UFC 315 suffered a big blow just days before the event
Ahead of UFC 315, the main card suffered a big loss in the form of two KO artists. Joel Alvarez withdrew on days’ notice due to an injury from his scheduled bout with Benoit Saint-Denis, and Saint-Denis’s status for the card is uncertain.
Mateusz Rebecki, according to MMA Fighting, is a potential short-notice replacement opponent for Saint-Denis. But as of this writing, the UFC hasn’t announced anything regarding Saint-Denis staying on the fight lineup.
If Saint-Denis doesn’t get a short-notice replacement opponent, another top star called him out for a main event bout. Mauricio Ruffy took to social media on Saturday and implored the UFC to book him against Saint-Denis in a UFC Fight Night headliner.