Top UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad is targeting a fight with Conor McGregor after declaring the Irishman to be "juiced up".
The No.5-ranked fighter in the division just defeated Vicente Luque to extend his unbeaten run to eight bouts, and is now looking for a massive money fight with the Irishman. Former two-weight world champion McGregor is plotting to return to the octagon at 170lb, and will likely need one fight before attempting to face Kamaru Usman for the title as planned.
And Muhammad believes that he could be that opponent, knowing that a win over McGregor even at this point in his career would catapult him to stardom. The Chicago native has had the odd social media back-and-forth with his Irish rival, and knows there's an interesting fight available that he can build.
“You’ve still got the Irish gimp that’s talking about coming up to 170," Muhammad told ESPN when asked about possible next moved. "So, I wouldn’t mind slapping him around too.
"We’ve gone back and forth here and there. He’s talking about it. He looks like he’s juiced up a little bit. So, we’ll be the same size. I’m not the biggest 170-pounder.”
There's no indication that Muhammad is suggesting that McGregor has taken any performance enhancing drugs, otherwise known as "juicing". He was likely referencing that the former world champion is now considerably bigger than he was before his leg break last summer against Dustin Poirier.
McGregor sarcastically mocked Muhammad ahead of his fight with Luque, responding to a tweet that he had posted by joking that he was "so excited for your next bout". The tweet was on of McGregor's famous deleted posts, and is now unavailable.
The Irishman returned to sparring last week, moving around with pal Cian Cowley in a boxing session over a number of rounds. He is planning to be back in action as soon as possible, hoping to organise another world title fight at an unprecedented third weight class.
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He told Mirror Fighting earlier this month that he will be returning at 170lb, where his record is 2-1 having beaten Nate Diaz and Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in his brief moves up. He has not decided on an opponent as yet.
"Straight back into training," he said. "I'm looking forward to getting back into the octagon - we'll see what happens, the leg's getting better every day, I think 170 is where I'm aiming for, I feel good at this weight."
"This guy is not relevant," Usman said of McGregor in an interview with TMZ Sports. "He hasn't done anything in the sport as of late. So, in order for him to be relevant, he has to try to attach his name to someone who is relevant. And what the media is not understanding, the media is not getting right now."
