Belal Muhammad admits it will be tough to keep his hands on Colby Covington in the lead up to their RAF 12 title match – if it even happens.
Following their wins at Saturday’s RAF 11 event, the promotion announced Muhammad would challenge Covington for the cruiserweight crossover title on Aug. 22 in Cleveland (FOX Nation).
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Prior to the event, Covington made a distasteful remark about the mother of Muhammad’s child. At the post-fight press conference, Muhammad took his chance to make Covington pay for those comments when he charged and kicked him before being separated.
“All he does is talk,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “He gets to the point where he says something reckless, then I’m going to see red and I’m going to go and clock him. We’re at the point where we’re not fighting. This is wrestling. But the guy is a lowlife. He’s said stuff about Leon (Edward’s) dad. He said stuff about Kamaru (Usman’s) dad. I’m like, ‘If he says something about my family.’ I don’t care if you say something about me, but if you say something about my family and like that, then I’m going to have to freaking hurt you. And it’s not fighting. It’s wrestling. So we’re not going to be able to do that in the match, so I’m going to have to do that when I see him at the press conference.”
Following the announcement of their grudge match, Covington told Submission Radio that he made an “executive decision” to cancel the contest. Hours later, however, he told “The Ariel Helwani Show” that he would wrestle the winner of a YouTube poll between Muhammad or “anyone else.” Muhammad currently leads the poll at 55 percent.
Muhammad said he’s not entirely bothered whether the matchup happens or not, but said Covington’s flip-flopping is another representation of poor character.
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“You see the coward now going out and doing interviews saying he’s not going to wrestle me,” Muhammad said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve been saying it for years that he’s been running from me, been trying to duck me forever. So now this is all he’s got. He went to the UFC and couldn’t become the undisputed champion. Now he went to RAF and he’s going against a lightweight and ran the whole time during the match.
“Now he thinks he’s the king of the world because he’s got a belt, because he beat a jiu-jitsu guy, he beat a kickboxer then he beat Arman, who was the only one active and shooting on him. He’s going to try to hold onto that belt as long as possible and if he loses to me, he’s got nothing left. He’s just a nobody, which is what he’s born to be: a nobody.”
Muhammad said his manager Ali Abdelaziz at Dominance MMA will ultimately finalize all plans with RAF regarding the match, but admitted any concerns from Covington’s end about “professionalism” are probably warranted.
“I think he’s trying to put a restraining order on me,” Muhammad said. “I’ve got to talk to Chad (Bronstein) and Izzy (Martinez) and see if the police will allow me to be within 10 feet of him. … He better be concerned, because if I see him I’m smashing his head into the floor.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Belal Muhammad: ‘Coward’ Colby Covington ‘running’ from RAF 12 match
