MONTREAL – UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad still has Shavkat Rakhmonov in his sights.
Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) was scheduled to defend his title against Rakhmonov at UFC 310, but withdrew after suffering a bone infection in his foot. Rakhmonov faced Ian Machado Garry in a five-round fight instead, further cementing his No. 1 contender status with a win.
Muhammad was expecting to face Rakhmonov (19-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) at UFC 315 on May 10 in the UFC 315 (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main event from Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, but Rakhmonov couldn’t make that date due to injury.
Muhammad will now make his first title defense against Jack Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC), but still sees Rakhmonov as the No. 1 contender.
“I feel like he deserves it. He earned it with the Ian Garry fight,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “It’s so easy to get injured in this sport. The training is the hardest part of the sport. We just saw it recently with (Dan) Hooker, and with Arman (Tsarukyan). It sucks, and like I said, me building my legacy, I want to take these guys’ 0s.
“The next younger generation. That’s the JDMs, that’s the Shavkats. Unless there’s a big fight with (Joaquin) Buckley or if he goes out there and gets a big win over somebody, I think he could earn it. But right now, I’m looking at him then I’m looking at Shavkat.”
Muhammad’s current 11-fight unbeaten run includes wins over Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Sean Brady, Gilbert Burns, and Leon Edwards.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 315.
