Belal Muhammad might be planning a win-win situation for himself. He had spoken to MMA Junkie about how he was open to making his first title defense against Kamaru Usman or Shavkat Rakhmonov. But why did he select these two fighters in particular? That answer might be present with Ben Askren who recently gave a hint about this.

Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) has just won against Leon Edwards and now can call the shots. So let’s see why he selected Usman out of all the top contenders.

Ben Askren deciphers Belal Muhammad’s planning

In their most recent Funky and the Champ episode, Ben Askren and Daniel Cormier got into a discussion regarding many topics. One of them was the fight between Belal vs Usman which might be a possibility. Askren gave the reason why ‘Remember The Name’  wanted to fight Usman so badly. He pointed out, “One way someone could look at this is that Usman has a big name he is a former champion, one of the longest reigning welterweight champions, you know him, Tyron, Georges is the three longer reigning welterweight champion.”

He further stated that Edwards, who had already lost to Muhammad, would have to win a few more fights to get to the high level. As for Muhammad, he is aiming for the big-shot guy who has held the belt for a long time. Askren thinks that Usman’s top dog days are behind him but since he is a big name, Muhammad can kill two birds with one stone.

He can fight against a big name while also being in a better physical form than his opponent. “I think Belal is getting the better of him (Usman) on the trash talk,” Askren said on the same show. Usman has lost to Edwards twice and also lost to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294. On top of that Usman applied the tongue-in-cheek method and asked Muhammad to give him credit for the Edwards win. Both the welterweights have had a feud with each other since then. On top of that, trash-talking has just taken a new turn with trash music because Muhammad came up with a new idea!

Belal Muhammad makes a diss track for Kamaru Usman

In an unexpected twist, the welterweight champion decided to ditch the usual trash-talking and took a more creative route—dropping an AI-generated diss track aimed at ‘Marty’. While fans anticipated a verbal onslaught, the lyrics took a different direction, focusing more on the former champ’s physical vulnerabilities. The track humorously mocked ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’s’ knockout loss to Leon Edwards and poked fun at the injuries he’s accumulated over his career.

Not stopping there, ‘Remember The Name’ seemed to be in a playful mood, even sharing a meme of Dana White with his face morphed into Morpheus from *The Matrix*. This cheeky jab was part of his critique against the UFC for offering his undefeated title defense fight to Kazakh standout ‘Nomad’ Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Meanwhile, a simmering feud with Rakhmonov has taken center stage. According to Rakhmonov, he was offered a fight with Muhammad, but the timing didn’t align, leading to Muhammad declining the bout. Now, the two are locked in a war of words on social media, each accusing the other of being inactive.

As this drama unfolds, one thing is clear: both Usman and Rakhmonov could pose significant challenges for Muhammad. But who should ‘Remember The Name’ face next? The fans are divided, but what do you think? Should he take on Usman, or is Rakhmonov the better choice? Share your thoughts in the comments below!