Have you missed the biggest news of the MMA world in the last 24 hours? Well, worry not as we bring forward the latest developments to you in bite-sized pieces. So, let’s get started. We will start our journey with recent news about the welterweight division and it appears that the 170 lbs champ, Belal Muhammad is a bit hesitant about clashing against 100% finishing rate welterweight title contender, Shavkat Rakhmonov.

After the welterweight news, we will move forward with news about the heavyweight division as Jon Jones has finally hinted at a clash against Tom Aspinall after months of drama. Finally, we will end our Roundup with Israel Adesanya’s reaction to Egyptian Soccer star, Mohammad Salah. So without any further ado, let’s get started.

Shavkat Rakhmonov claims Belal Muhammad ducked a fight against him

After Belal Muhammad shocked the world by capturing the 170 lbs gold from Leon Edwards at UFC 304, Shavkat Rakhmonov called out the champion, expressing his belief that Muhammad would keep his promise and grant him the next title shot. ‘Remember The Name’ initially agreed to give him the title shot, however, months have passed since the promise and it appears that it was all a facade.

While having a conversation with, MMA Fighting, Rakhmonov stated that Muhammad might have ducked a fight with him, “Actually, I’ve already been offered a fight to fight Belal and I accepted the fight against Belal. But unfortunately, he declined to fight me due to the timing issues. He wasn’t ready to defend his belt on that time. So we’ll see what’s going to happen and when he’s going to be ready so I will be able to fight him.”

He further added, “Before he became a champion, and after he won the belt, he said he’s going to be an active champion and he will defend his belt more often, but at the moment he wasn’t backing up what he said, you know? So let’s see what’s going to happen, when he’s going to be ready to fight me.” Well, now let us move on forward to an exciting news coming from the heavyweight division.

Is Jon Jones hinting at a potential fight with Tom Aspinall?

The Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall saga has been on the headlines for now. Most MMA fans are talking about a clash between Jones and Aspinall, however, despite constant callouts by the interim heavyweight champ, Jones was not in the mood to give him a fight to unify the heavyweight title but the recent back and forth between the fighters have forced Jones to come forward and make sure that his aura is not diminished among the fans.

A fan recently asked Jones on X, if he would be able to defeat Aspinall to which the heavyweight champion replied, “Bro, absolutely. I’m getting close to being in fight shape and I’m weighing in at 245 now. He probably cuts weight to get down to heavyweight. The night we fought he would probably weigh a solid 25 pounds more than me, seven years younger, and I would still whip his ass like I’ve done everyone else. You guys can go ahead and believe the hype, I’ll keep doing what I’ve always done, win.”

Will Jones fight Aspinall in the near future? Well, we might not know for now but what we know is the fact that Jones will be fighting Stipe Miocic in October at UFC 309. Regardless, let us move on to Israel Adesanya who appears to have a reply for Mohammad Salah.

Israel Adesanya appreciates Mohammad Salah for the praise

Israel Adesanya has been one of the best middleweight champions of this era. ‘StyleBender’ reign as a champion was marked by constant back-to-back fights as he never started action. However, since last year, Adesanya’s career has been going through some rough path specifically due to his back-to-back defeats against Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis. Well, amidst the darkness, there’s a ray of appreciation for Adesanya as well.

Egyptian Soccer star, Mohammad Salah has come forward to appreciate Adesanya for his victory against Alex Pereira when they clashed with each other. “I was watching the UFC, Pereira against Adesanya. When Adesanya won the second fight, he celebrated like that I like that,” said Salah.

His appreciation has found its way to Adesanya as the fighter took to his Instagram handle to share a post about that on his story and captioned it as, “Each One, Teach One.” Adesanya is trying to find his fight motivation once again. Regardless, what’s your take on Israel Adesanya’s career? State your thoughts in the comments below.