Following Belal Muhammad's withdrawal from his first welterweight title defence at UFC 310, the next question was what would happen to his opponent.
The undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov was set to challenge Muhammad on December 7 in Las Vegas and is now hoping that he will get a new opponent for the same day.
During a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, he named former champion Kamaru Usman as his preferred option for an interim title fight.
“I believe there are worthy opponents available,” Rakhmonov said through an interpreter. “I’m ready to save the card too if it’s for the interim belt. I believe Usman is a worthy opponent who’s going to be ready to jump in to face me.”
Sayat Abdrakhmanov, who is Rakhmonov's manager, said that though there hasn't been anything concrete from the UFC, they're working to find a replacement opponent for December 7.
“Right now, negotiations are going on. Obviously there’s talking. I don’t know if they are talking to someone else, but I’m sure they offered it to Kamaru, too.”
In Muhammad's recent comments about the injury, he claimed that there is no need for an interim title to be created because he will be back in training within six weeks.
Rakhmonov, however, believes that there is no drawback in him fighting for an interim belt and is not convinced that Muhammad will be back when he says he will.
“We don’t know when Belal is going to be back,” Rakhmonov said. “These kind of injuries, infections, they might say it’s six weeks, but look at JDM (Jack Della Maddalena). It took him a lot longer. It’s good for Belal, too, because it’s going to make the fight bigger. It’s going to be champ vs. champ, so whenever Belal is ready, after I secure the interim title, I’m going to fight him.”
Watch the full interview below:
