Kamaru Usman gets honest about Belal Muhammad potentially moving to middleweight, talks possible welterweight title shot despite losing skid
Kamaru Usman believes Belal Muhammad still has unfinished business at welterweight, despite Muhammad’s interest in moving up to challenge middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis. Muhammad will defend his welterweight title against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 on May 10, while other contenders like Shavkat Rakhmonov and Leon Edwards remain in the mix.
'The Nigerian Nightmare' argues that Muhammad hasn’t dominated the division enough to justify a move:
“If Belal wants to go up and fight DDP, then he vacates the title...Who cares? He hasn’t gone through the division to say, ‘Hey, I want double straps.’ No one cares, and listen, this is not me trying to hate or say anything negative about him. If he wants to do that, that’s fine. He can do that, but there’s a plethora of guys there... So, there’s guys coming that you haven’t really gone through the division.”
Speaking of himself, Usman remains confident he's still a top contender, despite a three-fight losing streak:
“I’m still there in the top three of the division. I go in and I beat up somebody – from the company’s perspective, from my perspective, for our champion’s perspective, whoever has the belt at that time, I think we all know who the right pick is to fight for that title.” [H/t: MMA Junkie]
Check out the full podcast below:
Kamaru Usman weighs in on Song Yadong’s eye poke on Henry Cejudo
Kamaru Usman has weighed in on the controversial UFC Seattle main event, where an accidental eye poke by Song Yadong forced Henry Cejudo to withdraw. The former welterweight champion believes referee Jason Herzog should have handled the situation better, particularly by issuing a warning or deducting a point.
During the third round, Yadong unintentionally poked Cejudo in the eye, briefly halting the fight. After using his allotted recovery time, Cejudo attempted to continue but later informed his corner he couldn't proceed. As a result, the bout went to the scorecards.
Speaking on the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Usman questioned Herzog’s officiating, noting the lack of clear warnings for Yadong. He argued that fighters naturally extend their fingers to manage distance but emphasized that referees must be proactive in enforcing rules to prevent fouls from impacting fights unfairly.
"I think the ref dropped the ball there as far as warning, especially after the eye-poke. Song is trying to create that distance because he knows he needs to be at distance. In his head, I think he thinks his fingers are like this, but they're not."
Check out Kamaru Usman's comments below (10:45):