Belal Muhammad's next opponent and return timeline revealed by UFC commentator
The news about Belal Muhammad's return has been reported by a UFC personality recently. Muhammad will be looking to get back into title contention with a potential win in his next octagon outing.
Muhammad put his welterweight title on the line against emerging contender Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 315 earlier this month. The 36-year-old was overwhelmed by Della Maddalena's dominant performance and lost his throne via unanimous decision. Notably, it was his first defeat since 2019.
In a recent episode of the Anik & Florian Podcast, UFC commentator Jon Anik revealed that Muhammad will make his comeback against undefeated contender Shavkat Rakhmonov, saying:
''We will see what Shavkat Rakhmonov has for him in October. Belal vs Shavkat in October. There's your breaking news."
Check out Jon Anik's comments below:
Muhammad was scheduled to face Rakhmonov at UFC 310 last year, however, a foot injury forced him out of the fight. As a result, the Kazakh took on Ian Machado Garry in a title eliminator bout and won by unanimous decision.
The two were again scheduled for UFC 315, however, this time Rakhmonov pulled out due to a reported knee injury. This prompted Della Maddalena to step in on short notice.
Belal Muhammad discusses his failed game plan at UFC 315
Belal Muhammad made his first welterweight title defense against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315. Della Maddalena displayed excellent takedown defense and captured the 170-pound belt from Muhammad, becoming the third Australian champion after Alexander Volkanovski and Robert Whittaker.
In a recent episode of the Remember the Show podcast, Muhammad opened up about his title loss. 'Remember the Name' admitted deviating from the strategy of attempting more takedowns, saying:
''I think I have the best team in the world, some of the best coaches in the world, and we go into every fight with a strategy and idea of what we want to do. Obviously, for us, what our strategy was was to take down Jack. It wasn’t to go blow-for-blow with him, brawl-for-brawl with him...Obviously, we lost the fight, but we stood toe-to-toe with him. People can say whatever they want to say and do whatever they want to do, I went against the game plan, I went on my own, and at the end of the day, I’m going to live with that.''
Check out Belal Muhammad's comments below (11:34):
Muhammad then voiced his desire to face Kamaru Usman next.