Written by Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Belal Muhammad spent years chasing the biggest and best possible competition as he sought to become a UFC champion but now that he’s got the title, the target sits squarely on his back and he really doesn’t need to go after anybody.
That said, the ideal situation for his first title defense was going up against undefeated contender Shavkat Rakhmonov, who had been painted as the boogeyman of the division with a dominant run through the ranks with a 100-percent finishing rate until he earned a decision win over Ian Machado Garry in his latest performance. Sadly, Muhammad suffered an injury that prevented him from facing Rakhmonov this past December and then Rakhmonov endured the same fight when the matchup was being rescheduled for UFC 315 on May 10.
Now Muhammad faces Jack Della Maddalena in the main event and as much as Rakhmonov still deserves his opportunity, the reigning UFC champion acknowledges there are just no guarantees when it comes to this sport.
“That’s the crazy thing about this sport,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “Even with Jack, he didn’t have to go the road I took. All of a sudden it was like perfect timing, we took him away from the Leon [Edwards] fight and they gave him the title fight. You never know what it’s going to be.
“For me, if Shavkat is healthy, I think Shavkat deserves it but I don’t really know what his injury is or how long he’s going to be out for. The train has to keep rolling. The train has to keep moving.”
In the wake of Rakhmonov’s injury, Sean Brady has continued his winning ways after he became the first person to finish Leon Edwards when he submitted the former champion in April. Of course, Muhammad handed Brady his only career loss when he knocked out the Philadelphia native back in 2022 so there’s history between them.
This past weekend, Garry bounced back from that loss to Rakhmonov and took out highly touted welterweight knockout artist Carlos Prates and now he’s set to serve as the backup fighter for Muhammad’s title defense against Della Maddalena.
With no word about when Rakhmonov might be healthy enough to compete again, Muhammad says he’s leaving it up to the UFC to determine who actually ends up receiving the next title fight against him.
“For the UFC it’s like what are they going to do?” Muhammad said. “Sean Brady looked really good that fight and he’s looked good ever since that loss [to me]. I think he probably grew a lot from that loss. There’s probably a lot of guys when they lose, they come up with excuses or there’s guys when they lose, they get better and they grow and they try to fix things. I think that’s what he did. So that [loss] could have been the best thing for him.
“For me, not looking past Jack at all, but there’s guys on the horizon. You’ve got [Ian Machado Garry], you’ve got [Joaquin] Buckley still sitting there calling somebody out, you’ve got Sean Brady right there and then obviously Shavkat’s right there. So there’s a lot of guys in the division that I haven’t fought yet but I’ve got to win first. I’ve got to win next weekend and then after that, we can look at all the rest of these guys.”
One of the biggest perks about being champion is that Muhammad doesn’t have to pursue anybody in particular because his only job now surrounds defending the belt.
Right now the only thing on his mind is beating Della Maddalena at UFC 315 and then hopefully he’ll get the chance to settle some unfinished business against Rakhmonov.
Then again Muhammad knows probably better than anybody that timing and opportunity often serve as the biggest factor determining these fights so his message to the rest of the welterweight division is just stay ready.
“You never know how this sport works,” Muhammad said. “It’s so easy to get hurt training in this sport that a guy like [Rakhmonov] who’s had those long layoffs before from injury, obviously I wish him nothing but health.
“I wish him to be ready because obviously that’s a big name. That’s a big guy I want to add to my record. I want to have his ‘O’ on my record. But like I said, everything is in god’s hands.”