Kamaru Usman fights harder than Shavkat Rakhmonov

Belal Muhammad is at odds with Kamaru Usman, but he respects the former UFC welterweight champion's game.

Current champion Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) moves to face either Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) or Shavkat Rakhmonov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) for his first title defense, hopefully in December. When asked who he thinks would be the tougher fight, Muhammad said former five-time titleholder Usman is the tougher one based on his experience.

“Honestly, I would say Kamaru because he's been fighting at 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 it would be harder for me to fight someone who has a similar IQ to me.”

Usman has lost three fights in a row, but Muhammad said he should be given the benefit of the doubt for his short-notice loss to middleweight Khamzat Chimaev.

“He still has tread on the tires,” Muhammad said. “People sit there and say, like you said, people must have forgotten, right? And people forget you quickly, but he took that fight with Khamzat on eight days' notice, and it was about inches in that fight, right?

“If it had gone two more rounds, I would have been very interested to see how it would have gone. This was a guy that nobody thought could hurt him. He was immortal, and Kamaru made him look mortal in Abu Dhabi in eight days. That's why I think he would be one of the toughest fighters in the division.”