UFC 319 could have seen the return of Belal Muhammad.
The premier MMA promotion makes its way back to Chicago for the first time in six years with UFC 319 this Saturday. Champion Dricus du Plessis and the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev meet for the middleweight title in the main event of the evening.
Du Plessis had quite the reception in Chicago on Thursday—and by reception, we mean dozens of boos from a pro-Chimaev crowd at the UFC 319 press conference.
Chicago’s former welterweight champion Belal Muhammad liked what he saw from the fans and expressed his desire to fight for them at home.
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Belal Muhammad wanted to fight Kamaru Usman at UFC 319
Coming off a title loss to Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 315 in May, Muhammad said UFC 319 in his hometown caught his interest.
However, it takes two to tango, and Muhammad says he couldn’t get a fight lined up with former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
“100%, I wanted to fight on this card,” Muhammad told The Schmo.
“It would have been epic to fight at the United Center, but we couldn’t find Kamaru,” Muhammad said.
“So, hopefully we’ll get something from him soon.”
Usman recently snapped a three-fight losing skid with a dominant decision win over Joaquin Buckley in June.
“It’s the only one that really makes sense,” Muhammad said of a fight with Usman.
“We just got to get his manager to stop protecting him,” Muhammad joked as he and Usman have the same manager Ali Abdelaziz.
Kamaru Usman and Belal Muhammad have history
Muhammad and Usman don’t exactly see eye to eye in the welterweight division.
The former champions engaged in a physical altercation when then-champ Muhammad was on Usman’s Pound 4 Podcast.
Muhammad claims to have made Usman cry before they traded blows on set, with Henry Cejudo trying to separate them.
The podcast episode or footage of the incident was never released, leaving many fans to wonder who would win in an actual UFC fight.