Belal Muhammad dismisses Kamaru Usman as ‘full time podcaster’; claims ex-champ’s return is uncertain

UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad mocks Kamaru Usman over his inactivity and career as a podcaster on YouTube.

Belal Muhammad dismisses Kamaru Usman as ‘full time podcaster’; claims ex-champ’s return is uncertain

Belal Muhammad makes fun of rival Kamaru Usman (via Imago)

Belal Muhammad became the welterweight champion at UFC 304 after a dominant five-round war against former title holder Leon Edwards. Since that victory, Muhammad’s fan base has exploded, drawn in by his confident trash-talking persona. One of his biggest disputes is with former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, which recently took a new turn.

Usman is widely respected as a UFC legend, though his recent years have seen a noticeable decline in fighting activity. Currently, he’s more focused on creating UFC content with Henry Cejudo through their popular show, the Pound 4 Pound Podcast. However, Usman still claims to be the 170-pound division’s boogeyman, but Muhammad doesn’t share the same views. 

He’s had over two years off. He’s a podcaster now. He just likes to talk….He wants to stay relevant, so whenever there’s a big name or big fight coming up, he’ll say something and he’ll give thoughts, or he’ll post a picture with ‘Stylebender’ (Israel Adesanya) in the gym just to get, ‘Oh, maybe Kamaru is training for something – is he doing something?’ At the end of the day, there are a lot hungrier guys – guys who really want it.

Belal Muhammad via MMA Junkie
YouTube video

Usman lost his welterweight title to Leon Edwards at UFC 278, then fell short again in their title rematch showdown. Later, he stepped in last minute to face Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294, performing competitively despite difficult odds and limited preparation time. Even with that performance, many fans and analysts still question whether a full-fledged comeback is realistic for him.

Despite his losses, Usman is still the #1 in the welterweight division and has talked about potentially fighting soon. He has been called out by fighters like Joaquin Buckley, who see him as a stepping stone to the title shot. However, his biggest beef is undoubtedly with the welterweight champion, which is quite entertaining.

Kamaru Usman and Belal Muhammad’s infamous podcast 

The rivalry between Kamaru Usman and Belal Muhammad began with a series of fiery exchanges and insults on social media. Usman publicly dismissed Muhammad’s championship win, labeling him an easy opponent and undermining the significance of his UFC 304 performance. The Palestinian champion retaliated using sharp trash talk, mocking Usman’s inactivity and declining record across various interviews. 

The entertaining beef between Belal Muhammad and Kamaru Usman
The entertaining beef between Belal Muhammad and Kamaru Usman (via Imago)

Things took an interesting turn when Muhammad was invited to Usman’s podcast, where he reportedly humiliated the former champion. However, the episode was never published, which led to various speculations from fight fans. Usman dismissed all those claims and gave details about it in one of the episodes. 

In typical Belal fashion, of course, Belal did Belal. So the interview didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t that great of an interview anyways, it wasn’t even that long, but it went the way that it went. That was the biggest moment of his life because that’s all that he seems to want to talk about. I haven’t mentioned it all, because it wasn’t that eventful, but that’s all he seems to want to talk about all the time.

Kamaru Usman via Pound 4 Pound Podcast 
YouTube video

Since then, the rivalry has escalated, with Muhammad boldly labeling Usman a ‘coward champion’ lacking true competitive courage. He has dismissed the hype surrounding Usman’s dominant title reign, calling it exaggerated and built on carefully selected favorable matchups. He pointed out that Usman mostly defended his belt in rematches against Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal, avoiding rising threats.

According to him, Usman strategically dodged truly challenging contenders, which has weakened his legacy in comparison to other greats. On the other hand, Muhammad is chasing the tough task of beating the likes of Georges St-Pierre in terms of legacy. However, before all that, he first needs to defend his title against Jack Della Maddalena at the upcoming UFC 315.

Related: Kamaru Usman wife: Who is Eleslie Dietzsch and are the couple still together?