UFC Welterweight Champion Belal Muhammad wants to be active — just as much as record-breaker Alex Pereira.
Muhammad has fought once in the past 17 months, but that inactivity is not down to his doing. After defeating Gilbert Burns on short notice in May 2023, "Remember the Name" banked his long-awaited first title shot on MMA's biggest stage.
Unfortunately for him, he had to wait for then-champion Leon Edwards to settle his business with Colby Covington before cashing in on his opportunity at UFC 304 in Manchester, England this past July.
Despite a lengthy break from competition, Muhammad looked at his best inside the Co-op Live, dominating Edwards across five rounds to extend his unbeaten run to 11 and capture the 170-pound crown.
The new kingpin will now return five months later to put his gold on the line for the first time at UFC 310 this December, headlining the pay-per-view event opposite the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Muhammad outlined his plans for the new year should he get past the threat posed by "Nomad" during a recent interview with John Morgan for Grind City Media.
While he'll make the walk on Dec. 7 as the underdog, "Remember the Name" is no stranger to upsetting the odds. And he fully expects to do so once again before embarking on an Alex Pereira-esque campaign in 2025.
I love to fight. It’s so hard to stay healthy in this game that if if I’m healthy, I wanna be in the cage," Muhammad said. "People are like, 'Oh, we thought you were gonna wait a year to defend and you’re gonna push it longer because it took you this long to get in.' Sitting on the couch doesn’t get you paid, sitting on the couch doesn’t make me happy. I wanna get happy by competing. I love to compete and it’s such a small window in this game where you don’t know what tomorrow is gonna hold that I’d rather stay busy.
The hardest thing for me was that wait (after beating Gilbert Burns)," Muhammad continued. "I wanted to get into the cage. I wanted to fight. And then for 2025, I’m trying to get on that Alex Pereira schedule. ... Next year, for myself, is just (about) staying busy.
After winning the light heavyweight title in late 2023, Pereira has gone on to rack up three straight defenses this year in record-breaking speed. His victims were Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 in April, Jiří Procházka at UFC 303 in June, and Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 earlier this month.
Before looking to potentially replicate that feat next year, Muhammad must first vault his reign's first hurdle by getting the better of Rakhmonov at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena.