“Islam deserves it” - Former UFC champion gets brutally honest on why Belal Muhammad hasn’t earned a fight against Dricus du Plessis
A former UFC kingpin has given his opinion on why UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad has not earned a shot against middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.
Muhammad earned the crown by dethroning Leon Edwards at UFC 304. However, he has not defended his strap and had to back out of his scheduled UFC 310 bout with Shavkat Rakhmonov because of a bone infection.
Rakhmonov was in line to face 'Remember the Name' at UFC 315. However, this time, the Kazakh fighter pulled out due to an injury. As per recent announcements by UFC CEO Dana White, Muhammad will defend his strap against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.
Recently, Muhammad called out the middleweight division the easiest and even criticized the UFC 312 main event that featured du Plessis and Sean Strickland. He also revealed his potential plans to move to middleweight and fight for the title to fulfill his double champ aspirations and let his friend Islam Makhachev replace him in welterweight.
However, former UFC double-champ Henry Cejudo thinks that du Plessis vs. Muhammad is not the fight to make. Instead, 'Triple C' wants Makhachev to lock horns with 'Remember the Name'.
In a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Cejudo said:
“Belal is not in that position to be challenging for a belt for double champ. And I like Belal. I think Belal is fu**ing dangerous too. I think his style of fighting is just like Merab's... But I don’t think feel like it’s there dude."
He added:
"I think the fight that really does need to happen it is Islam vs. Belal. That’s the fight that people really do need to make because that’s the fight that Islam deserves it. He has earned it."
Check out Henry Cejudo's comments about Belal Muhammad below (26:30):
Dricus du Plessis mocks Belal Muhammad
Dricus du Plessis has responded to Belal Muhammad's middleweight ambitions and hasn't given any signs of interest that would lead supporters to think that their bout will ever come to fruition.
During du Plessis' recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani show, 'Stillknocks' had this to say about a potential outing with Muhammad:
"I mean, I like how he acts as if he has a choice to ever go up to 185. The UFC will never let him. If he wanted to, he'd have to abandon his belt, give up his belt, vacate, and go up to 185, and there's no way they give him a direct title shot... He's definitely better on Twitter than he is when he fights."
When asked about how he sees a potential fight playing out with 'Remember the Name', du Plessis added:
"I step on his head and it's over. That's how that fight goes."
Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments about Belal Muhammad below (23:08):