Belal Muhammad gives fiery response to Kamaru Usman blasting him for not fighting Islam Makhachev: "You’ve never been in a room with Israel Adesanya"

Belal Muhammad recently chastised Kamaru Usman for his statements about the former avoiding a fight with Islam Makhachev. 'Remember the Name' claimed that Usman can't stand him being the current welterweight champion, which explains his disparaging comments.

Muhammad has close ties to the Nurmagomedov family and has trained alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov, Makhachev, and other Dagestani fighters on multiple occasions. While Makhachev has stated a desire to step up to welterweight and fight for a second belt, the reigning lightweight champion will not do so as long as Muhammad remains the champion, highlighting how close they are.

However, in a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound Podcast, Usman asserted that Makhachev should challenge Muhammad in order to fulfill his quest to become a double champion. That didn't sit well with the reigning 170-pound champion, who slammed 'The Nigerian Nightmare' for his remarks in his recent interview with MMA Fighting.

Muhammad brought up how Usman avoided facing Israel Adesanya when the two were champions in their respective divisions, saying:

''They never trained together, but he said, ‘I would never fight Israel.' He also said he would never fight Khabib. I’m like bro, you never trained with them before... When he said, ‘These guys train together? Let’s get rid of that notion.' Bro, shut up. You’ve never been in the room with Adesanya or worked out or sweated with Adesanya in your life and you made it seem like you would never fight him ever because he’s your brother.”

Muhammad went on to imply that Usman was envious of him, saying:

''If they’re going out there calling me out, this and that, it’s a different story. But everybody’s just looking for that notion to hate on me. They’re looking for that notion because they don’t want me to be champion. They want to make it seem like I don’t belong.''

Check out Belal Muhammad's comments below:

---

Belal Muhammad discusses his future plans

Belal Muhammad was set to face Shavkat Rakhmonov in the main event of UFC 310 last year for his first title defense. However, a foot injury forced him out of the contest. This led to a title eliminator bout between Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry, which the Kazakh won by unanimous decision.

Muhammad expressed his desire to fight Rakhmonov in May or June, then fight again in October and at the end of the year in the aforementioned interview with MMA Fighting.

Watch the full interview below: