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Belal Muhammad believes Islam Makhachev has more work to do at lightweight before moving up to welterweight.
On Saturday night, Muhammad will headline UFC 315 and attempt to defend his welterweight title for the first time against Jack Della Maddalena.
Several narratives for this weekend's main event have been widely discussed in the MMA community, including the lingering implications for lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
Makhachev wants to move up to welterweight and attempt to become a two-division world champion. The pound-for-pound king is Muhammad's training partner, making his decision to move up complicated.
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While speaking to Demetrious Johnson, Muhammad had this to say about Makhachev having several potential opponents at lightweight:
"I think for Islam, there's guys for him right now to fight at 155, especially besides Ilia [Topuria], where you're looking at Justin Gaethje. He just had a nice win and hasn't fought Islam yet. Paddy Pimblett, I think just threw his name into the mix, his star power, if I'm the UFC, you want to push him right away."
Muhammad followed up by saying:
"And then you still have Arman [Tsarukyan] and [Charles] Oliveira still there, those would obviously be rematches for him. There's still fights there. I would definitely move up [to middleweight], and I don't think that they would be too big for me either."
Watch Muhammad's comments starting at 1:09:10 below:
Jack Della Maddalena claims "it's retirement time" for Belal Muhammad
Belal Muhammad has business to take care of before worrying about Islam Makhachev or any potential welterweight contenders.
Jack Della Maddalena, a 28-year-old Aussie, is riding high on confidence heading into UFC 315 due to his 7-0 promotional record.
Della Maddalena recently claimed during one of the UFC 315's Embedded episodes that he plans to retire Muhammad:
"I think he's in for a rude awakening. I'll break him with strikes, physically break him. He's had a good run in the UFC, it's retirement time, buddy."
Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena goes down inside Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Saturday's co-main event features Valentina Shevchenko defending her women's flyweight title against Manon Fiorot.
Watch Della Maddalena's warning to Muhammad below:
