Belal Muhammad talks about interim title fight
#UFC310 I don’t know what that means, but I don’t care:
“Temporary title bro? I’m taking six weeks off, not six months.”
🎥 @remembertheshow
#UFC
#mixed martial arts
— Championship Round (@ChampRDS)
November 2, 2024
Belal Muhammad believes an interim title fight would be meaningless in his absence.
Muhammad was scheduled to defend his welterweight strap against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on December 7th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. However, ‘Remember the Name’ was forced to withdraw from the event due to an infection that caused severe swelling in one of his toes.
Since then, Rakhmonov has been looking for a replacement opponent for a possible interim title fight at UFC 310. While Ian Garry was calling out Rachmonov, the Irishman was recently booked to face Joaquin Buckley in a headline bout at UFC Tampa on Dec. 14. Former champion Kamaru Usman is the most likely candidate to replace Muhammad in the Nomad fight. Muhammad doesn’t think his absence will be long enough to warrant an interim title fight. Either way, the champion insists he’s not concerned about the interim title, regardless of who he fights next.
“[Shavkat’s] Call for a provisional title match. Something like “Interim title fight?” Brother, I take six weeks off, not six months. “But even for myself, they want to do it just to make it the main event,” Muhammad said on the “Remember the Show” podcast. “So even if they want an interim title fight, I don’t care about that at all because they know who has the real belt. We know who that will be. If it’s going to be him, the only one that really makes sense at this point is Kamal because Buckley and Garry are out. I said I think [Jack
Della Maddalena] He got injured…he and Usman are training partners…it’s just weird.”
Muhammad is unbeaten in 11 fights in the UFC since 2019, and went on to win the title with a dominant unanimous decision over Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July of this year. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Rachmonov has finished all 18 of his career wins to date, including six in the UFC.
