Kamaru Usman happy to kick Belal Muhammad’s ‘head in’ if fight ever happens

Kamaru Usman and Belal Muhammad have been at odds for years now, but it doesn’t appear an in-octagon meeting will happen anytime soon.

On Friday, at a fan Q&A in Abu Dhabi ahead of Saturday’s UFC 321 event,

Usman explained why a bout has not materialized despite the longstanding beef between the two fighters.

“We didn’t have a lot of back and forth, it was just a lot coming from him,” Usman said. “I just think he’s a dork and what you do with dorks is you ignore them. This is the thing, for someone like myself and Belal Muhammad, right now Belal Muhammad is ranked No. 1 in the division? And I’m below him. I’m looking at the title. I’ve been where he hasn’t been. Yes, of course he’s been a champion, but we saw what happened when it was time for you to defend. So I have nothing to gain from fighting Belal Muhammad, he has all to gain.

“That’s why he’s the one calling me out, he has all to gain from me. I’m not here to waste time. I want to get the title ,and I want to continue on my track of defending, being that champion again. If I have the title ,and he’s the next guy, I would luckily kick his head in.”

Usman and Muhammad’s feud appeared to come to a head in September 2024 when Muhammad was set to appear on Usman and Henry Cejudo’s Pound 4 Pound podcast. The episode is yet to be released, with both sides blaming the other for an altercation that occurred during recording. Cejudo said Usman and Belal became physical, while Muhammad recently claimed Usman had “tears coming out his eyes” during the alleged exchange.

Regardless, a bout failed to materialize with Usman instead going on to defeat Joaquin Buckley at UFC Atlanta, and Muhammad currently scheduled to fight Ian Machado Garry at UFC Qatar on Nov. 22 after losing the welterweight title to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.

It’s unclear exactly who Usman faces next, though he is aiming to compete on the upcoming UFC White House event in June and possibly for a chance to regain the welterweight championship if everything lines up just right for him.

“I think good odds because plan is, hopefully, fingers crossed, after this fight in the next couple of weeks with Islam [Makhachev] and [Jack Della Maddalena], hopefully the winner of that is going to want to take downtime,” Usman said. “If it’s Islam, Ramadan’s coming, so we’re going to want to sit for a couple of months and so White House should be a perfect time to get back in there. So we’ll see, I don’t know, like I said I’m aiming for the title so whoever it is.”