It is usually not a good idea to trash-talk Ilia Topuria since the featherweight champ goes nuclear with his responses. This is something the welterweight champion Belal Muhammad found out recently. ‘El Matador’, of course, had dissed ‘Bully B’ on an Instagram Live, implying he didn’t deserve to be a UFC champion.

And Muhammad, who himself is always up for a good verbal spat, took to his X account, calling ‘El Matador’ a ‘dork’ for buying a fake BMF belt and brandishing it his own. Topuria, of course, is set to face the real BMF champion Max Holloway at UFC 308. The BMF title, however, will not be up for grabs in their clash.

This stunt reminded Muhammad of controversial welterweight star Colby Covington‘s antics, and he branded Topuria as the Georgian counterpart of Covington. To which ‘El Matador’ had a brief but devastating comeback.

“Belal ‘Crotch sniffer’ Muhammad,” Topuria tweeted, a witty reference to ‘Bully B’s fondness for takedowns, which requires one to bend down and put their face in line with their opponent’s crotch. And Topuria’s barb works in more ways than one.

After all, the welterweight champion is one of the least popular stars among fans in the entire UFC, precisely because of his ‘boring’ gameplan where he likes to take the fight to the ground. That and the fact almost all of his wins have come via decision. Fans, of course, love nothing more than a good old bar brawl where someone gets knocked out. And Muhammad, even on his best day, isn’t that type of fighter. But he will have the opportunity to change that narrative in his next fight, which, at least on paper, looks like an absolute banger.

Belal Muhammad to take on Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 amid Ilia Topuria feud

Belal Muhammad is doing at least one thing fans can get behind- defending his title five months after winning it. The newly-minted 170-pound champion will take on undefeated boogeyman Shavkat ‘Nomad’ Rakhmonov at UFC 310, the last PPV card of the year in December.

And surprisingly, the Kazakh challenger has opened as the -265 favorite against the champ. This is due to very obvious reasons. After all, not only is ‘Nomad’ undefeated but has a perfect, 100% finish rate in his eighteen pro-MMA fights so far. Stylistically, too, Rakhmonov’s dangerous, sambo-based ground game looks good enough to neutralize Belal’s biggest strength- his wrestling.

But Muhammad, it is worth mentioning, went into his title-winning UFC 304 clash with then-welterweight champ Leon Edwards on almost identical betting odds. Only for ‘Bully B’ to live up to his moniker and bully ‘Rocky’ for almost the entirety of their five-round clash. Knowing Muhammad, you can be sure he will take these betting odds against Rakhmonov as a personal insult, which will only drive him to prove everyone wrong. And that is when he is the most dangerous.

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What are your thoughts on Ilia Topuria and Belal Muhammad’s feud and can he stop the terror of Shavkat Rakhmonov in their title clash? Drop your comments below!