With Belal Muhammad now serving as the UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman sees a path back to the title without Leon Edwards in his way. Just one week after Muhammad’s crowning victory at UFC 304, Usman already began planting the seeds for a potential matchup.
Though Usman and Muhammad are both Muslim fighters, the two have never seen eye-to-eye. After ‘Remember the Name’ obtained the title and conducted a photo shoot with lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi, Usman took a shot at the new 170-pound titleholder, joking that he did not know how to hold the belt.
Usman tweeted:
“Islam is a good man. Had to teach him how to hold the belt”
Usman previously held the title from 2019 to 2022, collecting five title defenses before shockingly losing it to Edwards at UFC 278. The Nigerian would receive an immediate rematch and a chance to reclaim the belt at UFC 286 but lost to Edwards again.
In the time since Usman was last in a UFC welterweight championship fight, Edwards defended the belt against Colby Covington at UFC 295 before Muhammad took it off him to become the incumbent champion.
Belal Muhammad responds to Kamaru Usman’s dig
Less than two hours after Kamaru Usman attempted to ridicule Belal Muhammad on social media, the welterweight champion responded to the 37-year-old on X.
In retort to Usman claiming Islam Makhachev had to “teach” him how to hold the belt, Belal Muhammad told ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ that the Dagestani “also taught [him] how to clean [Usman’s] fingerprints off it.”
As the No. 2 ranked contender and former champion, Usman figures to be close to another title fight with Belal Muhammad, but the champion mentioned other fighters as opponents he is more interested in. Immediately after winning the title, Muhammad said in his post-fight interview that he wanted to defend his championship against Shavkat Rakhmonov in late 2024.