Kamaru Usman should be first on line at Sizzler for the early bird special, not first on line for the next crack at the 170-pound title.
That’s according to former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad,
who doesn’t understand why “The Nigerian Nightmare” is the popular choice for newly-crowned division kingpin Islam Makhachev. Usman was a dominant champion in his own right, but is just 1-4 over the last three years with his only victory coming over the No. 10-ranked Joaquin Buckley.
Blame manager Ali Abdelaziz.
“It’s Ali planting seeds,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “That’s what Ali does. He plays the puppet master. But at the end of the day, the UFC’s in charge. Do you want to put this old fart with no knees in a title fight? You can’t count on a guy like that who is just a coward. He wants to get the easy fight out the way. There’s a better guy who deserves it and earned it than winning no fights in four years, then beating a guy like Buckley. And not a great performance either.”
Muhammad will have an opportunity to get himself back into the title hunt by defeating No. 6-ranked Ian Garry in the UFC Qatar co-main event this weekend in Doha. Even if “Remember the Name” prevails, he’ll face still competition from unbeaten contenders Shavkat Rakhmonov and Michael Morales.
“For Usman to talk and act like he deserves a shot, the guy is 1-3 out of his last four, and he turned down a fight with me to fight this weekend. I think he’s automatically marked off. I feel like Shavkat being injured and being out, I think he’s going to have to get a win, but I think the frontrunner right now is Morales. The performance he had, the streak he’s on. So for me, I’ve got to outperform his performance.”
It all starts with the return of “Canelo Hands” against “The Future” of the division in Qatar.
