It took too long for Belal Muhammad to fight for the title and become the UFC’s welterweight champion. But it took only twenty-five minutes for him to lose the title to Jack Della Maddalena at their UFC 315 clash earlier this month. After which, there was only one question on most people’s minds– what next for ‘Bully B’?

Well, we have a definitive answer as UFC’s lead play-by-play commentator, Jon Anik revealed on his podcast that the Palestinian heritage former champ is set to clash with the boogeyman of the division– Shavkat Rakhmonov— in October.

“I’m glad he [Muhammad] has a UFC undisputed welterweight belt at home. I’m glad he’s married to the game. We’ll see what Shavkat Rakhmonov has for him in October, okay. Belal vs. Shavkat in October, there’s your breaking news,” Anik said.

As you may remember, Muhammad and ‘Nomad’ were set to clash last year, when the former was champion. However, a grisly bone infection forced ‘Bully B’ to pull out, and the fight didn’t happen. The undefeated Kazakh was also reportedly offered another title shot against Muhammad at UFC 315.

But the undefeated 170-pounder turned it down due to an injury, causing the UFC to make Muhammad-Della Maddalena. But it seems the fight is finally set to happen, as the UFC commentator revealed on his podcast. And despite the threat Rakhmonov poses to him, Muhammad has a golden opportunity to get back on the title horse in his next fight.

Belal Muhammad blames lack of sticking to gameplan for UFC 315 loss

Belal Muhammad has taken the loss to Jack Della Maddalena pretty hard. After all, unless ‘Bully B’ could get his title back, he will join the unceremonious list of UFC champions who couldn’t defend their titles even once. The Chicago-born fighter was devastated at the loss, and has turned to faith to find strength and acceptance over the loss.

“It took a couple of days for me mentally [to deal with the loss]. Obviously being religious, religion plays a huge part in my life… it’s just about accepting God’s plan, and just accepting whatever has happened, is meant to happen,” Muhammad said on ‘Remember the Show’.

In addition, the former champ admitted that he didn’t really follow his game plan. Instead of focusing on his strength and keeping the fight on the ground as much as possible, ‘Bully B’ felt that he got drawn into a striking match with the Aussie champ, which ultimately cost him the title.

“Our strategy was to take down Jack. It wasn’t to go blow for blow with him. When you’re training [for] something so much, and you’re getting better at something, which I think my striking has grown so much and I said it. I went out there and I just felt good. Obviously we lost the fight, but we stood toe-to-toe with him. I went against the game plan, and at the end of the day I’m going to live with that,” Muhammad said.

But in good news for the former champ, all is not lost yet. Rakhmonov is probably the most exciting and scary fighter in the entire division bar none. The Kazakh has not only won every single pro MMA fight he has been in, but won all one of them via stoppage. So if Muhammad could beat Rakhmonov in their October clash, it would be hard to deny him a title rematch. What do you think about the prospect of a Muhammad-Rakhmonov clash?