Former UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, has not competed since shedding to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 again in Oct. 2023, a short-notice bout that despatched “The Nigerian Nightmare” — as soon as thought-about the highest pound-for-pound fighter within the sport — to his third straight loss.
That stated, the 37 year-old ex-champ remained one of the requested fighters in 2024, due to an extended listing of hungry contenders trying to slug their approach into title competition. Sadly, “Marty from Nebraska” is rehabbing a sequence of undisclosed accidents and has no timetable for return.
That doesn’t sit properly with present 170-pound titleholder, Belal Muhammad.
“You simply obtained known as out by [Joaquin] Buckley,” Muhammad instructed MMA Combating. “You bought known as out by Ian [Machado Garry]. He’s getting known as out by all these guys after which he complains ‘all these losers preserve calling me out, why you retain calling me out, after I’m wholesome [I’ll fight], blah, blah, blah.’ Bro, you’ve been out over a 12 months. In case your knees are gone, your knees are gone. They’re not going to get any higher. They’re not going to randomly develop cartilage.”
Usman is at the moment ranked No. 3 at 170 kilos.
“Both defend your rating or get out of the rankings,” Muhammad continued. “As a result of there’s hungry guys, hungry contenders which can be proper there. I feel he simply desires to be a podcaster. He simply desires to be a man like a [Conor] McGregor the place he stays within the combine simply by saying silly stuff and hoping that it will get headlines. They’re not going to be the fellows that combat. They’re not going to be the fellows that need the following hungry guys anymore.”
Muhammad, coping with his personal harm, is predicted to make his first 170-pound title protection towards undefeated welterweight contender, Shavkat Rakhmonov, sooner or later over the following few months. The winner of that combat might face one in every of these two combatants later this 12 months.
