Belal Muhammad doesn’t think Kamaru Usman should get an immediate rematch against Leon Edwards next time out.
At UFC 278 in August, Usman suffered a fifth-round head kick KO to lose his welterweight title in a fight he was winning. Immediately, all parties called for an immediate rematch – and the trilogy – to happen, and potentially even in the UK. Yet, for Muhammad, he doesn’t think the fight should happen.
Belal Muhammad’s Response
“We’re talking numbers, we’re talking rankings…you want to make this a real sport,” said Muhammad on a recent Instagram live chat (h/t MMAFighting). “If you want to make this a real sport, there’s no rematches once you lose the Super Bowl. You lose the Super Bowl, you lost the Super Bowl, that’s it, you’re going to have to wait until next year. You don’t get a, ‘Ahh, man. That was a lucky pass.’ Nah, you lost, you don’t get the rematch right away. You’ve got to go through a whole other season to try and get back there again. So, Usman, sit down a little bit, relax, heal up, [and] let me fight Leon Edwards.”
Although Muhammad doesn’t think an immediate rematch should be next, all signs point to that happening. Usman was also a long-reigning champion who was one minute away from defending his belt, so there’s no question he deserves the opportunity to try to win it back.
As for Belal Muhammad, he is coming off a TKO win over Sean Brady and is currently on a nine-fight unbeaten streak. In his last nine, he’s 8-0 with one, No Contest with the NC being against Leon Edwards as the Brit poked Muhammad in the eye, and the bout was stopped.
In the UFC, Muhammad is 13-3 and one No Contest with notable wins over Vicente Luque, Stephen Thompson, Demian Maia, Curtis Millender, Lyman Good, Tim Means, and Randy Brown among others.
Do you agree with Belal Muhammad?
