Belal Accuses Kamaru Usman of Turning a Blind Eye in the Past: ‘Ignored Me Before, Now You Want My Attention’

The UFC welterweight division became a lot more interesting after Belal Muhammad defeated Leon Edwards to become the promotion’s first Palestine-born champion. Despite resting on the sidelines for years, when the 36-year-old ascended the throne, former champion, Kamaru Usman was one among the first few to call him out for a fight.

But Belal is giving him the prize fight that easily. He wants Usman vs Shavkat Rakhmonov to fight for the #1 contender.

Speaking to Submission Radio, the champion revealed how ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ had turned a blind eye towards him when he was the champion, as if he didn’t even exist.

Pointing out the hypocrisy, Belal further talked about how Usman wasn’t better than him but acted like it and now is going to get the same treatment he used to deny the Palestinian-American his title shot.

“I mean, it’s funny, he’s not better at taking head kicks than me, right? We both fought the same guy recently and I dominated Leon (Edwards) and he lost to him twice. So, you’re not better than me everywhere…When I was calling his name when he was a champion, he was acting like I didn’t exist, he was acting like there was nobody else in the division.”

He also mentioned how Vicente Luque and he, despite being on stellar streaks were snubbed by Usman.

Belal also made it a point to call out Usman for dismissing the best of the division to go up against Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington who apparently at the time were nowhere close to the top of the ladder.

But while the champ took a few digs at Usman for his performance against Edwards, there seems to be genuine respect between the two and further down the conversation, ‘Bully B‘ mentioned how Usman is a tougher fight than Shavkat.

‘Usman a tougher fight than Shavkat’ – Belal Muhammad

Manchester was in for a riot when Belal Muhammad won the title from Edwards, dominating for the whole of four rounds, earning himself a unanimous decision win.

In fact, Belal did what Usman never could – take Leon’s patented headkick and dominate him for the entirety of the bout!

Despite the obvious smack talk, deep down one can feel the mutual respect between Usman and Belal.

As a matter of fact, during the same conversation with Denni Bermudez, he picked Usman as a tougher fight than the undefeated Kazakh, Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Explaining his thoughts, he said that the Nigerian-born ex-champ has been at the top of the game for quite a long time and has amassed an ocean of experience fighting the best.

Kamaru Usman gearing up for his potential title fight against the Welterweight champion Belal Muhammad 👊🏻🏆#UFC pic.twitter.com/WHqmBBCSof

— Cardio King (@ColbyUfcCov) August 22, 2024

Furthermore, he mentioned how Usman took the fight to Khamzat Chimaev despite going up a weight class and taking the fight on seven days’ notice. So, regardless of his devastating title loss to Edwards, Belal still is a firm believer of Usman and feels like the 37-year-old has still got it.