Welterweight champion Belal Muhammad fights Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 315, but it feels like many people are looking past that fight trying to figure out what it means for the lightweight division.
As it stands, 155 pound champion Islam Makhachev is refusing to fight former 145 pound champion Ilia Topuria unless “La Leyenda” wins a fight at lightweight first. Topuria is refusing that, saying the UFC promised him a title shot in exchange for relinquishing his old title. In general, it seems like Makhachev is tired of defending his belt and wants to move up to welterweight. The only problem? His team’s longstanding relationship with Belal Muhammad.
Now Muhammad is coming out and making it clear: he won’t fight Islam Makhachev if he beats Della Maddalena in Montreal next month.
“No, I wouldn’t fight him,” Belal told Submission Radio. “Like I said, their team, they’ve done so much for me. They helped me so much that it wouldn’t be worth for me to fight those guys. There’s just way too much respect and loyalty on my end.”
As much of a clusterf—k as that seems to generate, Muhammad insists there’s no reason to drag him into all this lightweight drama.
“I think people are just wondering and just hoping for him to fight, they’re looking for any excuses for him,” he said. “There’s guys right now in [the lightweight] division that makes sense.”
“Justin Gaethje makes sense. He’s coming off a big win. He’s 3-1 in his last four fights. People are gonna tune in to Justin Gaethje. He hasn’t fought Justin Gaethje yet. You got Paddy Pimblett who just came off a huge finish of Michael Chandler. He has a big name. That’s another fight that makes sense. You got Charles Oliveira waiting for a rematch, Arman [Tsarukyan] waiting for a rematch. There’s plenty of guys.”
One guy who doesn’t get Belal’s stamp of approval as an immediate 155 pound contender is Ilia Topuria.
“I think that Ilia definitely needs to fight somebody before he gets that title shot,” he said. “Because it’s not really worth it for Islam to fight another 145er or give another 145er a chance. No matter what they do, people are gonna hate on Islam, hate on Team Khabib, no matter what happens. So for him, it’s like, ‘You guys aren’t gonna give me the respect that I deserve if I beat him. Let him get a win first, and then it’ll be worth it for me.’”
The UFC is certainly finding itself in a tough situation with a cascading list of fighters who refuse to fight each other. We’ll keep you updated if they figure out how to resolve things.
