Shavkat Rakhmonov and Belal Muhammad continue their war of words.
At UFC 304, Muhammad claimed the UFC welterweight title with a five-round domination of rival Leon Edwards. Following his win, many assumed Rakhmonov would be first in line to face the newly crowned champion, and Rakhmonov recently revealed he was in fact offered a title shot in October that Muhammad declined, with Rakhmonov then suggesting Muhammad wasn’t living up to his declaration that he’d be an active champion.
In response, on Saturday, Muhammad fired back at Rakhmonov, saying that the undefeated Kazakh fighter has not fought in 2024 and so should have to fight former champion Kamaru Usman in a No. 1 contender matchup. And as you can imagine, Rakmonov doesn’t think much of that idea.
On Sunday, Rakhmonov responded to Muhammad, pointing out that “Remember the Name” seems to have forgotten that he himself earned a crack at the belt despite a 14-month layoff.
Do you have a case of selective memory, or did you just forget that you didn’t fight for 14 months before challenging for the belt? https://t.co/BKLdRzZvhy
— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) September 1, 2024
“Do you have a case of selective memory, or did you just forget that you didn’t fight for 14 months before challenging for the belt?”
Ultimately, it seems like these two will eventually settle their differences inside the cage, as Muhammad himself recently joked that the UFC only seems interested in that matchup next. Nonetheless, the welterweight champion isn’t going to let Rakhmonov have the last laugh in this, and so promptly fired back by suggesting he’s not even been engaging with the real Rakhmonov.
Selective memory ? Who’s tweeting for you bro there’s no translation for that in Kazakh https://t.co/cdgcXvNDYk pic.twitter.com/aKJOTnI4jq
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) September 1, 2024
“Selective memory ? Who’s tweeting for you bro there’s no translation for that in Kazakh.”
If these two are going to end up fighting each other though, it may not be this year. With the UFC schedule nearly complete for the rest of 2024, the only remaining opportunities for the matchup would be at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 in Madison Square Garden in New York City, or UFC 310 on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. UFC 309 is widely believed to be headlined by the long-awaited matchup between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, while UFC 310 still lacks a main event.
