Kamaru Usman may be called the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’, but Belal Muhammad is not losing any sleep over him. In light of the controversial fight on the mysterious unaired Pound4Pound podcast episode, Usman has warned Belal to look over his shoulders for him during UFC 315 in Canada.
Now, being the welterweight champion, Belal has bigger fights to worry about, like defending the title this weekend against Jack Della Maddalena.
However, due to the ugly threats, the Palestinian-American claims he’s happy to hand Belal his fourth beating in a row, albeit this one outside the confines of an UFC Octagon.
In an interview with Job-Bernard Kairouz, Belal responded to the threats and said, “I wish he shows up in Canada, I wish he comes over here. Like I said, we just do it again.”
However, this beef seems pretty inconsequential at the moment for two reasons. One, as Belal loves to remind Usman’s fans, the former welterweight champion is more of a podcaster now, having not fought in almost two years, being sidelined by major knee injuries.
Secondly, he’s currently on a 3 fight skid and will have to work his way back up to a title shot. Currently, his path to past glory is being blocked by surging prospects like Ian Garry, Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Joaquin Buckley, should he defeat Usman in June.
What’s more, this whole sequence could change if Maddalena can pull off an upset, prompting the pound-for-pound number 1 fighter in the UFC, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, to move up in weight class and jump the queue.
Interestingly, another fighter, with a worse recent record than Usman, has also been looking to cash in on the champ’s status. However, Belal seems to have an answer for him as well.
Belal’s retirement’ plan for Usman and Colby
A video of Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington went viral on social media during his visit to the UFC Performance Institute. The American claimed to have hidden Muhammad’s food at the PI, in a poor attempt to prank him.
However, when asked about the pranks Colby was playing on him, the champ gave him a fitting response, and even Usman caught a stray.
“I’m not even in Vegas right now that’s how much of a moron he is. Colby’s a YouTuber now, Usman’s a podcaster. They should start a podcast together: The Biggest Losers,” Muhammad said, unable to stop himself from laughing at the pair.
Covington has yet to respond to Belal’s remarks but it is highly likely, he will soon.
More must-reads: