Why did Belal Muhammad call Colby Covington's UFC 286 weigh-in 'a joke'?

Surging welterweight contender Belal Muhammad was taken aback by seeing former two-time title challenger Colby Covington weigh in as the backup fighter for the UFC 286 main event.

Although both Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards successfully made weight for their trilogy fight at the weekend's pay-per-view, 'Chaos' also tipped the scales at 170 pounds to fill the role of the backup.

Watch Colby Covington weigh-in for UFC 286 below:

In an interview with MMA Junkie, 'Remember the Name' stated his dismay with Covington choosing the role of a backup, despite having had the chance to face him on the same card.

According to Muhammad, 'Chaos' is afraid to face him and the UFC should just take Covington out of the official rankings:

"He had an opportunity to fight me on this card. I was trying to fight on this card, I wasn’t trying to do no crazy negotiations or anything with the UFC. Our end was yes, yes, yes. It was back in January when we were trying to get it going and he turned it down, just to weigh in as a backup."

He added:

"Weigh in for nothing, and not have to fight because dude’s afraid. So it’s a joke, they need to start taking him out of the rankings, he doesn’t want to fight, he’s not trying to fight... We both could have weighed in, he still could have been backup, and we both could have actually fought and got a paycheck for actually fighting, but he’s a coward."

Covington was last seen in a dominant win against former title challenger Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272. Belal Muhammad currently boasts a nine-fight undefeated streak. In his last outing, 'Remember the Name' clinched a second-round TKO finish against the then-undefeated Sean Brady.

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Gilbert Burns says it was "very smart" of Colby Covington to weigh in as the back-up

UFC welterweight elite Gilbert Burns believes it was a very smart move on Colby Covington's part to put himself forward as the official backup for the UFC 286 main event.

During an interview with The Schmo, the former title challenger opined that Covington's decision to be the backup was a rather sly way of avoiding the possibility of getting bumped down in the rankings due to inactivity:

"He is smart, he is smart, you know, because March makes one year after his last fight. So he has to do something, so he is very smart to put himself [as the backup]. So at least they are not going to kick him out of the ranks... That was [a] very smart move from him."

Catch Gilbert Burns' comments on Colby Covington below:

UFC 286 will take place at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday, March 18. The main card for the event starts at 5 PM ET and can be streamed on ESPN + pay-per-view.