In just a few days time, Belal Muhammad makes the first defense of his welterweight title when he takes on Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.
Although the fight came about in an unorthodox way, Belal Muhammad is set to defend his title against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 in Montreal this coming Saturday.
Just days out from their clash, Della Maddalena’s game plan has been leaked, potentially giving Muhammad some insight into what to expect in the fight.
Even though Muhammad is assumed to have the grappling advantage, a video surfaced online recently of Della Maddalena choking BJJ World Champion Craig Jones to sleep, making the fight even more interesting.
Ahead of his first title defense, though, Muhammad has been warned of a potential backstage altercation by former welterweight king, Kamaru Usman.
Usman warns Muhammad of potential altercation at UFC 315
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ hasn’t fought since almost taking Khamzat Chimaev‘s undefeated record at UFC 294 in October 2023 after moving up to middleweight on short notice.
Despite that, it was recently announced that Usman will make his return to 170lbs to take on Joaquin Buckley at UFC Atlanta on June 14.
Although it is unclear whether Usman will be in attendance at UFC 315 in Montreal, he has warned that there will need to be security around him if he sees Muhammad backstage at any UFC event.
“Probably, (security would be needed if we were backstage). I say that only because, obviously, I’m very level headed and especially when I’m outside of the cage but for the last almost two years now, I haven’t been in the thick of it,” Usman began to explain in an interview with ESPN MMA.
“When you’re in the thick of it, you’re on alert all the time and even me and Georges St-Pierre we had this conversation where he expressed that to me… Now that I’m back in the thick of it, yeah, you’d probably have to have security back there with us,” Usman continued.
Usman and Muhammad clashed during unreleased podcast recording
This feud between Usman and Muhammad has seemingly been brewing for some time now as the two previously clashed during a podcast recording of Usman’s Pound for Pound Podcast.
The current champion went on to claim that he almost brought Usman to tears during their unreleased clash, which still has fans requesting it be released to this day.
With Usman now scheduled to fight at 170lbs again, Muhammad believes he could skip the line with a win over Buckley, potentially finally putting their feud to bed with a fight.