Belal Muhammad confirms Shavkat Rakhmonov is next for first UFC title defense.
‘Remember The Name’ returned to the cage in the main event of UFC 304 over the weekend. There, Belal Muhammad entered the octagon a massive underdog against welterweight champion Leon Edwards. ‘Rocky’ had previously dominated their first encounter in March 2021, until a second-round eye poke caused a no-contest.
However, the second meeting couldn’t have looked any different. In the UFC 304 main event, Belal Muhammad outstruck and outwrestled Leon Edwards. After five hard-fought rounds, the 36-year-old was finally a UFC champion. Post-fight, Muhammad shot down the possibility of a trilogy with his British rival.
A few days removed from his title win, Belal Muhammad is opening up on what’s next. Speaking on his own ‘Remember The Show’ Podcast, the newly crowned champion confirmed that the rising Shavkat Rakhmonov will be next. The undefeated welterweight has long been viewed as a future titleholder, and will now get the first crack at Muhammad.
Belal Muhammad confirms Shavkat Rakhmonov is next after UFC 304 upset title win
“You don’t want to get too comfortable.” Belal Muhammad stated on the ‘Remember The Show’ podcast, about his UFC future. “People are already telling me that Shavkat [Rakhmonov] is going to kill me. That was probably the first tweet that came out from my haters. ‘He won’t do that to Shavkat, Shavkat will kill him’, I love that. I love that.”
He continued, “I’m going to do the same thing to him. I’m going to go out there and break him, break him. Then they’ll say that about the next guy… By the end of my career, I’m going to be the best welterweight to ever do it. The way to do it, is to walk through these next guys. Shavkat is next…. I’m going to start taking these guy’s zeros. I already took Sean Brady’s 0, Shavkat’s next.”
While Belal Muhammad is intent on handing Shavkat Rakhmonov his first loss, it’s not going to be easy. ‘Nomad’ currently holds an undefeated 17-0 record, and is coming off a submission win over Stephen Thompson in December. However, if there’s anyone who could beat the odds, it’s Muhammad.