It’s been every week since welterweight champion Belal Muhammad revealed information of a foot an infection compelled him out of UFC 310, and there’s been a number of speak about what’s going to occur along with his opponent, Shavkhat Rakhmonov, however nonetheless nothing has been set.
One chance being talked about is for Rakhmonov to satisfy former 170-pound champ Kamaru Usman for an interim belt on the Dec. 7 pay-per-view occasion from T-Cell Area in Las Vegas. Whereas Rakhmonov has lobbied for that matchup to happen, issues are nonetheless up within the air.
On Thursday’s episode of his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo, Usman expressed a willingness to step in on quick discover however wasn’t clear about being contacted by UFC matchmakers as he commented on the state of affairs for the primary time.
“The UFC is gonna name who they suppose is gonna be legit powerful sufficient and man sufficient to step in there, is loopy sufficient to step in there on quick discover, and go on the market and probably shock the world,” Usman stated. “Positively the UFC is aware of who to name when that state of affairs occurs. And in the event that they do give me a name, I’m gonna reply the decision, get a pair issues straight, and if we’ve obtained to do it, we’ve obtained to do it. I don’t draw back from any of that.”
Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) has been known as upon for 2 main short-notice fights in recent times. Whereas he was champion, he accepted a battle with Jorge Masvidal on six days’ discover in July 2020 at UFC 251. Usman final yr stepped in on lower than two weeks’ discover to battle Khamzat Chimaev in a middleweight bout at UFC 294. Usman beat Masvidal by unanimous choice however misplaced a majority choice to Chimaev.
Usman, 37, is on a three-fight dropping, having not competed for the reason that loss to Chimaev in October 2023. Previous to that, Usman dropped back-to-back title fights towards Leon Edwards – first dropping his title by fifth-round knockout at UFC 278 then developing quick within the rematch (trilogy) by majority choice at UFC 286.
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