Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t want Islam Makhachev to fight Belal Muhammad

Khabib Nurmagomedov has explained why he isn’t a fan of the idea of Islam Makhachev facing off against Belal Muhammad.

As we know, Belal Muhammad is the UFC welterweight champion. He earned that title by defeating Leon Edwards, and he did so in fairly convincing fashion. Up next, the expectation is that he will defend the belt against number one contender Shavkat Rakhmonov.

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Beyond that, though, it’s not clear as to what his route forward would be. Some have suggested that Islam Makhachev could eventually head up to 170 pounds in an attempt to defeat Muhammad and become a two-weight world champion.

With that being said, the two have trained together extensively and are seemingly close friends. For Khabib Nurmagomedov, it isn’t the best idea he’s ever heard.

Khabib doesn’t want Makhachev vs Muhammad

“If they had asked me to fight with Belal when I was an active fighter, (I would have said) no,” Nurmagomedov said on the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman. “But for example, Belal and Islam, OK, you have to talk with them. My heart – my heart is not OK. It would be hard to prepare Islam to beat Belal.”

“I don’t think that it’s ever going to happen,” Nurmagomedov said of Makhachev vs. Muhammad. “For me, it’s going to be very hard to prepare somebody to beat Belal. If you want to beat Belal, I think you have to stop him. Without a stoppage, it’s going to be very hard. What are you going to do?

“OK, if you take him down, it’s very hard to control him for 25 minutes, first of all. Second, it’s very hard to dominate him on striking game in all 25 minutes because he mixes it up. He doesn’t stay with you all 25 minutes. He wrestles and strike, wrestle and strike. He is good.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

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