UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad questions Kamaru Usman’s desire to fight again.
Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) hasn’t competed since a majority decision loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 in October 2023, his third loss in a row. The former UFC welterweight champion has been taking time off to recover from injuries, and has been trading barbs with Muhammad now for months.
The pair reportedly got physical when Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) appeared on Usman’s “Pound 4 Pound” podcast, an episode that has not been released. Muhammad compared Usman to Conor McGregor, who has managed to stay in the headlines without fighting for years.
“He’s had over two years off. He’s a podcaster now. He just likes to talk,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie of Usman. “I think he’s kind of like a McGregor, where he misses it. He wants to stay relevant, so whenever there’s a big name or big fight coming up, he’ll say something and he’ll give thoughts, or he’ll post a picture with ‘Stylebender’ (Israel Adesanya) in the gym just to get, ‘Oh, maybe Kamaru is training for something – is he doing something?’ At the end of the day, there are a lot hungrier guys – guys who really want it – and there’s guys that are there right now that have deserved it and earned it.”
Top contender Joaquin Buckley, who’s coming off a TKO stoppage over Colby Covington at UFC on ESPN 63 this past December, called out Usman after notching his sixth win in a row. Muhammad thinks Buckley is wasting his energy by calling out Usman, and should target any of the top contenders instead.
“He’s putting in effort, right? He’s talking, and I’ve actually trained with him,” Muhammad said of Buckley. “People were like, ‘Oh man, he’s trying to call you out.’ I’m like, bro, I’m a champion. I don’t take none of that personally. I want to fight these guys that are hungry, that are actually going to promote with me and talk with me. I think he’s making the wrong callout when you’re trying to call out Usman, who’s just sitting on the sidelines, not trying to fight. So it’s kind of like the McGregor waiting game where (Michael) Chandler waited for him and you’re waiting for nothing, because I don’t think Usman is going to fight.”
Muhammad will look to make his first title defense when he takes on Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC 315 headliner (ESPN+ pay-per-view) on May 10 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 315.