Belal
Muhammad (24-3) recently dismissed Shavkat
Rakhmonov’s (18-0) claims that he isn’t keeping his promise of
being an active champion.
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Muhammad won the welterweight title with a unanimous decision win
over Leon
Edwards at UFC 304
this past July. Rakhmonov claims he has since received an offer to
challenge “Remember the Name,” which he accepted. However, “Nomad”
accuses Muhammad of turning down the booking, which was supposedly
offered for UFC 307
on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to Rakhmonov, Muhammad
rejected the offer due to the timeline. The undefeated Kazakh also
accuses Muhammad of not being an active champion.
“Actually I’ve already been offered to fight Belal and I accepted
the fight against Belal,” Rakhmomov told MMAFighting.com. “But unfortunately he declined
to fight me due to timing issues. He wasn’t ready to defend is belt
on that time. So we’ll see what’s gonna happen and when he’s gonna
be ready. So I’ll be able to fight him. Before he became a champion
and after he won the belt he said he’s gonna be an active champion
and he will defend his belt more often. But at the moment he isn’t
backing up what he said… It was in October, for Salt Lake card [UFC
307].”
Muhammad had previously said that he would prefer to make his first
title defense at UFC 308,
which goes down on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
However, the champ seemingly isn’t ready to defend his title
earlier that same month.
Responding to Rakhmonov’s allegations, Muhammad brought up the
Kazakh’s own inactivity this year. “Nomad,” who considers himself
the most deserving for the next title shot, comes off a submission
win over Stephen
Thompson at UFC 296 in Decembe, 2023. Muhammad believes
Rakhmonov must undergo another test in former champ Kamaru
Usman to determine the next title contender.
“Inactive? Lol I’m still on trial and Shavkat hasn’t fought since
2023,” Muhammad wrote on X. “I think Shavkat and Usman should fight
to find the real No. 1 contender.”
Inactive? Lol I’m still on trial and Shavkat
hasn’t fought since 2023 I think Shavkat and usman should fight to
find the real number one contender pic.twitter.com/7fKYMZsqbl— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170)
August 30, 2024
Muhammad is undefeated in 11 outings since 2019 which includes two
finishes. Meanwhile, all of Rakhmonov’s 18 career wins have come
via stoppage, six of those in the UFC.