"There is nothing he can do to skip Shavkat" - Belal Muhammad shares brutally honest assessment of Leon Edwards' rematch chances against him

UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad has already mapped out his next two fights in the promotion. Muhammad plans to defend the title against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315, followed by a scrap against Shavkat Rakhmonov later.

Interestingly, Leon Edwards and Sean Brady, two of his former opponents, will fight in a welterweight main event at UFC London in March. Though Edwards and Brady are looking to get a title shot with a victory, Muhammad has shut it down.

Speaking on Michael Bisping's Believe You Me podcast, 'Remember the Name' trolled 'Rocky,' urging the former champion to fight contenders for three years before thinking about a title shot. He said:

"100 percent, I would make him wait. Like I have my guy, the next guy in line anyway. I think it's Shavkat. So there's nothing, I don't think he can do anything to skip Shavkat. I wouldn't allow that to even happen with Leon."

Funnily enough, Muhammed even claimed that even if Edwards wins via spectacular knockout, he would still troll the Brit, saying:

"Yeah, he could go out there, throw a cartwheel kick, spinning back fist, and then I'm still gonna put, 'LOL, he still sucks.'"

Check out Belal Muhammad's comments below (58:03):

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Belal Muhammad gives prediction for UFC 313 main event

Alex Pereira will be looking to make his fourth defense of his light heavyweight title at UFC 313 against Magomed Ankalev. On the Believe You Me podcast, host Michael Bisping quipped welterweight champion Belal Muhammad to analyze the fight.

Muhammad pointed out every fighter who attempted a takedown on Pereira had got it. The 36-year-old also noted that despite being a better grappler than any of Pereira's opponents, Ankalaev is a counter striker. As such, he believes a standup fight against the Brazilian will not be good for Ankalaev. However, he is confident in the Russian fighter to emerge victorious.

"The thing is, I think southpaw against southpaw. I don't know if the Pereira calf kicks, Southpaw against Orthodox, the Pereira calf kick’s gonna work on him. I don't think he's gonna be able to achieve that one on him," Muhammad said. [1:03:28 onwards in the aforementioned podcast]

The welterweight champion mentioned Jan Blachowicz had success against Ankalaev when they fought for the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 282, which ended in a split draw. As such, Belal Muhammad said:

"I think it's gonna end up being a grappling match. I think that Ankalaev is gonna get on top, gonna control for the first couple of rounds, and then maybe in the later rounds, he's going to, uh, strike with him some more. I think I'm picking Ankalaev for this one."