Belal
Muhammad recently revealed his version of what went down
between him and Kamaru
Usman during a podcast.
Muhammad (24-3) and Usman (20-4) have recently been engaged in a
public beef, a big part of which seemingly resulted from their
encounter on a podcast. They haven’t really been on cordial terms
since Usman criticized Muhammad for refusing to fight his friend
Islam
Makhachev. Muhammad responded by slamming Usman’s title reign
and said the former champ is washed up.
The two then met on a podcast which Usman shares with Henry
Cejudo and things went further down hill. According to
Muhammad, he went on the podcast at the behest of his manager Ali
Abdelaziz, who also manages Usman. Muhammad claims he was talking
about his title reign when Usman started asserting himself as a
former champ too. Muhammad then mocked Usman’s head kick knockout
loss against Leon
Edwards, which “The Nigerian Nightmare” didn’t receive well.
Cejudo allegedly had to intervene to stop the confrontation from
getting physical.
“Usman’s like, ‘I was a champ too.’ And [I said], ‘Yeah but you’re
not the champ anymore,’” Muhammad said on the Full Send podcast.
“And then he just couldn’t let it go… He was like ‘anything you do
I do better than you.’ And then I was like ‘but you didn’t take the
head kick better than me.’ And I think that just triggered him. He
was like ‘I don’t play these games man, it’s on sight when people
talk like that.’ And I was like, ‘We’re right in front of each
other. On sight?’… Henry Cejudo twisted his ankle, had to break it
up.”
Usman is on a three-fight skid and hasn’t fought since a
middleweight decision loss against Khamzat
Chimaev in 2023. The former champ is set to return against
Joaquin
Buckley (21-6) at
UFC on ESPN 69 on June 14 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Muhammad is unbeaten in 11 straight outings, topped off
by his title win against Edwards last year. “Remember the Name” is
set to defend his crown for the first time against Jack
Della Maddalena (17-2) at
UFC 315 on May 10 at Bell Centre in Montreal.