[autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] has been feuding with [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag], but he respects the former UFC welterweight champion’s game.
Current champ Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) is closing in on either Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) or [autotag]Shavkat Rakhmonov[/autotag] (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) for his first title defense, hopefully in December. When asked whom he thinks is the tougher fight, Muhammad said former five-time defending champion Usman is because of his experience.
“Honestly, I would say Kamaru just because he’s fought the highest level for so long,” Muhammad told Submission Radio. “And stylistically he has one of the best IQs in the game. So I think, for me, fighting somebody with close to an IQ of myself would be a harder fight.”
Usman is on a three-fight losing skid, but Muhammad said he should get the benefit of the doubt for his short-notice loss to Khamzat Chimaev at middleweight.
“He still has tread on his tires,” Muhammad said. “People will sit there and say, like, you said, people must have forgot, right? And it’s, people are quick to forget about you, but he fought that fight with Khamzat on eight days’ notice, and it was a game of inches in that fight, right?
“If it was two more rounds in there, I would’ve been very interested to see how it would have went. That was a guy that nobody thought could touch him. He was immortal, and Kamaru made him look mortal on eight days’ notice in Abu Dhabi. So, that’s why I think he would be one of the toughest fights in the division.”
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This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC champ Belal Muhammad explains why Kamaru Usman tougher fight than Shavkat Rakhmonov
