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Belal Muhammad is set to rematch Vicente Luque at UFC Vegas 51. The first fight resulted in a rare knockout loss for Muhammad who has since risen to the top of the welterweight division.
The fight has high implications on the title picture and the winner could potentially fight for the UFC welterweight title. Khamzat Chimaev is still in that picture though and could mess with any plans.
“If I beat Luque and [Khamzat] goes out there and beats Gilbert, they’re going to give him the title shot,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting ahead of UFC Vegas 51. “If I go out there and beat Gilbert and he beats Luque, they’re going to give [Chimaev] a title shot. It would have been a [more fun] build-up with Khamzat, but of course, I’m super happy to fight a guy like Luque, who’s No. 4, who’s on a huge streak, who’s coming off a huge win against [Michael] Chiesa, and a guy that weighed in to be the alternate for the title fight when Colby [Covington] and Usman fought. So the UFC obviously thinks highly of him.”
The fight against Vicente Luque is a rematch but Belal Muhammad is not looking at it that way heading into UFC Vegas 51. The two have changed a lot since their last fight all of those years ago.
“I don’t even really consider it a rematch,” UFC welterweight Muhammad continued. “I consider it a whole new fight because I’m a whole new fighter. That’s why I wanted this fight, to prove that I’m a whole new fighter and a different fighter. It’s going to be a whole different fight. So obviously I gain something from this fight. If I go out there and finish [Luque], beat him, there’s nothing that can deny me as well. Even when I beat [Demian] Maia, they said he’s old. When I beat ‘Wonderboy,’ everybody was saying he was old. Now I’m fighting a guy that knocked me out, a guy that’s young, a guy that’s knocking everybody out, finishing everybody, I go out and finish him — what excuse can you give now?”
