Jon Anik urges UFC matchmakers to schedule Kamaru Usman vs. Belal Muhammad for 2025: "Deserves to fight for the belt"

Jon Anik recently vocalized his desire to witness Kamaru Usman fight Belal Muhammad for the UFC welterweight title. Anik's words came in the form of advice for the UFC matchmakers amid his appearance on Usman's Pound 4 Pound podcast.

Usman stands as one of the most dominant UFC welterweight champions of all time. His title reign spanned over three years and included five successful title defenses.

Usman was removed from his throne by Leon 'Rocky' Edwards at UFC 278. Dana White and company provided him with another opportunity to recapture his lost glory at UFC 286, but 'The Nigerian Nightmare' failed to make the most of it.

However, Anik opined that Usman deserves another shot at the UFC welterweight gold, which is currently in Muhammad's possession. He also labeled it as one of the fights he would be looking forward to in 2025:

"Despite what a lot of people think, Belal Muhammad isn’t calling the shots when it comes to a date. And I will say this. If any fighter with a couple of red stripes on his Wikipedia page of late deserves to fight for the belt, it is ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ [Kamaru Usman]."

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Shavkat Rakhmonov currently interests Belal Muhammad more than Kamaru Usman

Kamaru Usman is already in a heated feud with Belal Muhammad, where both parties have taken shots at each other. However, despite Muhammad's scathing words for Usman, he doesn't want 'The Nigerian Nightmare' as his first title defense rival.

In an interview with Kevin Iole a few days back, Muhammad said that he would prefer having Shavkat Rakhmonov as his first title defense:

"It'd rather have it to be Shavkat. I think he has more aura; I think he has the undefeatedness to him. There's no excuse after beating him... Usman's on a three-fight losing streak, he's old, he's on his way out. I think he needs another win.

Check out Belal Muhammad's comments below (18:54):