The final pay-per-view of 2024, UFC 310, had the same title headlining the event as last year’s final pay-per-view, featuring a 170-pound title fight. However, Dana White and Co.’s plans fell off after the champion Belal Muhammad had to pull out, leaving Shavkat Rakhmonov without a title shot and without an opponent. This led to the original co-main event getting promoted to the featured fight spot.

Yes, Alexandre Pantoja will now be headlining his second UFC PPV this year, putting his flyweight title on the line against debutant, Kai Asakura. But what led to such a change? Well, for medical reasons, Belal Muhammad was left with no choice. Let’s take a look at that front.

What happened to Belal Muhammad before UFC 310? Injury and more

To put it simply, Belal Muhammad had problems with his toe, just like Conor McGregor had that led to his UFC 303 pullout, but it wasn’t the same kind. With less than two months to go to UFC 310, ‘Remember the Name’ revealed to have been suffering from a bone infection for a few days. The middle toe of his left foot was in no shape to take in any pressure, which forced him to withdraw.

‘Remember the Name’ shared some images of his toe on social media, and it did not look pretty. However, he claims that it will just take him six weeks to return to action as he had to go for surgery, but in the meantime, he had verbal scruff with Conor McGregor. When ‘The Notorious’ pulled out of the UFC 303 PPV, ‘Remember the name will come hitting with a jibe, tweeting, “My toe was a balloon,” to mock the former double champion.

That would quickly come to haunt Belal Muhammad as he’d get the same kind of injury, and this time, it was Conor McGregor’s turn as he shared a couple of crying, laughing emojis to pictures of Muhammad’s infected foot.

On the other hand, he might have the title with him, so Belal Muhammad isn’t going to be as affected as Shavkat Rakhmonov, who missed out on his title opportunity. Most fighters would be distraught about having to climb the ladder to get a title, but that is not how ‘Nomad’ operates.

Shavkat Rakhmonov would send a message wishing a speedy recovery to Belal Muhammad while calling for a replacement opponent. He was ready to take on anyone at UFC 310. In comes another undefeated star, Ian Garry, who was announced as the replacement on November 16. But a couple of weeks before that fight became official, the Irish star had been very vocal about wanting to hand the Kazakh star his first MMA loss.

Ian Garry has been dreaming of being the first to beat ‘Nomad’

‘The Future’ earned somewhat of a controversial decision win over Michael ‘Venom’ Page at UFC 303, but he was already looking ahead to the next challenge. After Belal Muhammad announced his pullout this past October, Ian Garry dropped a video snippet of his last fight’s post-fight presser of him talking about his next possible opponents, with a special emphasis on breaking Shavkat Rakhmonov’s undefeated streak.

“There’s some big names [to fight next], there are some cool matchups. There’s Shavkat [Rakhmonov], 18-0. I’d love to get my hands on him. I’ve nothing but respect for him, but I wanna be the guy to take his 0, and I know I can do it,” said Ian Garry. “That fight excites me so much. I’ve got nothing but respect for the dude, but I don’t want anyone else to beat him before me. He’s 18-0, I’m 15-0, let’s go on and put on a show. Let’s see who’s really better.”

In fact, Ian Garry has been calling Shavkat Rakhmonov out for months. Earlier this July, the Irishman shared yet another post of a photoshopped picture of his face-to-face with Shavkat Rakhmonov as he called for the “undefeated vs undefeated” clash. Well, we’re finally getting this, and somebody’s ‘0’ has to go. Meanwhile, Belal Muhammad will be back pretty quickly since he claims that his injury only requires a 6-week layoff period. It remains to be seen how the UFC 310 co-main event affects the welterweight title scenario.