Belal Muhammad responds to Shavkat Rakhmonov's "active champion" diss, suggests matchup to "find the real number one contender" 

The crowning of Belal Muhammad as the UFC welterweight champion seems to have infused fresh dynamism and renewed activity into the division. Muhammad was clear in articulating his vision that he wants to make the welterweight division great again, and is evaluating potential choices for his maiden title defense.

Undefeated Kazakh sensation Shavkat Rakhmonov wasted no time in asserting his claim to challenge Muhammad next following the American's victory over Leon Edwards at UFC 304. The pair have exchanged some words over the past few weeks based on scrutiny questioning Muhammad's commitment to fight toward the end of the year.

Rakhmonov recently accused Muhammad of failing to uphold his commitment to remain an active champion. He wrote on X:

"After all the talk about being an active champion, truth is Belal isn't even ready to defend his title this year."

Muhammad fired back at the comment, highlighting that 'Nomad' hasn't competed since December 2023. He also proposed the idea of a fight between Rakhmonov and former 170-pound champion Kamaru Usman to determine the next challenger. Muhammad wrote:

"Inactive? Lol I’m still on trial and Shavkat hasn’t fought since 2023 I think Shavkat and Usman should fight to find the real number one contender."

Catch Muhammad's X post below:

---

Shavkat Rakhmonov says Belal Muhammad declined offer for potential fight

Shavkat Rakhmonov recently claimed that the UFC offered him a welterweight title fight against Belal Muhammad, which the champion declined "due to the timing issues."

During an interview with MMA Fighting, 'Nomad' said that the UFC offered the pair a fight on the UFC 307 card, which goes down on Oct. 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah:

"I’ve already been offered a fight to fight Belal and I accepted the fight against Belal. But unfortunately, he declined to fight me due to the timing issues. He wasn’t ready to defend his belt on that time."

He added:

"We’ll see what’s going to happen and when he’s going to be ready so I will be able to fight him. Before he became a champion, and after he won the belt, he said he’s going to be an active champion and he will defend his belt more often, but at the moment he wasn’t backing up what he said, you know? So let’s see what’s going to happen, when he’s going to be ready to fight me.”

Check out Rakhmonov's comments below: