LONDON – UFC welterweight contender Belal Muhammad says he would have respected Sean Brady more if he went after Khamzat Chimaev.
Brady (15-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) called out various names, including Muhammad (21-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC), and he eventually got his wish. The pair will throw down Oct. 22 at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi.
Muhammad has been campaigning to fight Chimaev, who wound up getting matched up with Nate Diaz in the UFC 279 main event. Muhammad takes issue with Brady’s callout and thinks the unbeaten rising welterweight is underestimating him.
“Honestly the only lure is that this guy tried to talk trash, and I was sitting there like, ‘Who the heck is this little dork that’s never said a word and now he wants to start talking trash like he’s some big, tough guy?'” Muhammad told MMA Junkie. “He was so afraid to call out Khamzat the whole time, and I was like, ‘If he calls out Khamzat, all right, I’ll accept this fight, because it tells me he’s not a coward.’
“But he’s obviously calling me out with guys like Stephen Thompson, who I feel like is a bad matchup for him, or smaller guys like Nate Diaz and (Jorge) Masvidal – those fights he wasn’t gonna get at all. So obviously he thinks he can beat me, and he puts me in that same category, so now I’m gonna have to go out there and be careful what you wish for.”
Chimaev (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) is coming off a hard-fought win over former title challenger Gilbert Burns at UFC 273. A win over Diaz could set him up for the winner of welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards at UFC 278, and Muhammad sees Chimaev eventually becoming champion.
“When I fight for the title, I think it’s gonna end up being me vs. Khamzat honestly,” Muhammad said.
