It’s high time for Belal Muhammad to choose an opponent to defend his belt against. He has remained the center of talk after he gracefully conquered the UFC welterweight title and became the very first fighter of Palestinian descent to become a champion in the MMA promotion. But then came the chatters about his title defense. While the welterweight champion has named quite a few fighters to go up against, there are only two names that have been covering up the headlines. 

Shavkat Rakhmonov and Kamaru Usman are the ones that Muhammad has to choose from for his next battle. It does seem like ‘Remember The Name’ is open to fighting both of them. But there’s another name that Muhammad has been following.

Belal Muhammad weighs in on his next probable opponents on the Joe Rogan Experience

Muhammad had an elaborate talk with Joe Rogan on episode #162 of the JRE MMA Show. Therein, the UFC color commentator asked the WW champ about his next opponent. While the internet was filled with talks of Rakhmonov or Usman fighting for the belt next, Rogan wanted to know about Muhammad’s opinion.

‘Remember The Name’ recalled that ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ was the name that could take him near the legacy of Georges St-Pierre. Or that’s what Dana White thought. Muhammad said, “I think, like you said for legacy wise, Usman is obviously the bigger name, and he was the guy that Dana said it was the best welterweight behind GSP or in front of GSP. But for boogeyman-wise, and to shut up the naysayers, I think it’s Shavkat.” 

The reason why Muhammad wanted the Kazakh fighter was because of his undefeated record. Fighting and defeating Rakhmonov would help Muhammad shut down everyone who believed that he could never defeat Rakhmonov. He said, “But Shavkat is also that, ‘Ah this young guy is gonna come out here nad beat you’. Right after beating Leon, everybody’s comments, ‘Oh, you can’t do Shavkat, though. Shavkat will kill you’. And my chip on my shoulder’s like, ‘Alright, let’s go! I’m gonna prove you guys wrong. Now, I’m gonna show you guys what I can do!’”

On the other hand, Usman will provide greater PPV numbers. Claiming a victory against the former welterweight champion would indeed help him to put his legacy beside GSP, Leon Edwards, Demian Maia, Stephen Thompson, and others. Nevertheless, fighting either of them was going to build his resume.

But the former UFC contender, Michael Bisping, has voiced that it’s Rakhmonov who deserves the title shot next. Let’s see what ‘The Count’ has to say.

Michael Bisping snubs Kamaru Usman to bring in Shavkat Rakhmonov 

‘The Count’ took to his YouTube talk show to weigh in on the debate of Usman or Rakhmonov getting the next WW title shot. Not too long ago, the Kazakh mixed martial artist dissed ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ for losing his last 3 fights, while he was on an undefeated spree, with all of them coming from finishing moves. And Bisping seemed to be of a similar opinion.

Bisping said, “There is nobody in the welterweight division with a more deserving shot than Shavkat Rakhmonov. 18 and 0, 19 finishes. Some of the wins aren’t exactly over big superstars of the division, but… the masses [are] saying that Belal pulled an Ian Garry because he called out Shavkat as well… You get the props [from fans]… and then, down the line, the fight doesn’t materialize.”

‘The Count’ declared that he would indeed love to see Rakhmonov and Usman compete against each other first. However, he didn’t believe that the former champion would be the next to go against Muhammad.

Who do you think is worthy of fighting Muhammad for the welterweight belt? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.