Kamaru Usman believes Belal Muhammad is basking in becoming the new UFC welterweight world champion a little bit too much.
And the former welterweight title holder used his "Pound 4 Pound" podcast recently to bring him back down to earth.
"Make no mistake — my man, you're kind of a not so good version of myself," Usman began saying in targeting Muhammad.
"Everything he does, I do better. He's like 'oh, I did what you couldn't do, I beat Leon Edwards.' I have a win over Leon Edwards and in the second fight I dominated Leon Edwards until lightning struck and he landed the kick."
Usman added: "That's what I think, you know, becoming a new champion that goes to your head. It's like having your first beer. It's like all of a sudden you're talking reckless to everybody."
Muhammad dominated Edwards by unanimous decision to become the welterweight world champion late last month and he and Usman have done some bickering on social media recently.
Although Usman counts a win over Edwards, it came back in December 2015. The head kick that Edwards caught him with in August 2022 not only halted Edwards' welterweight title defense streak at five but it sparked a three-fight losing streak that the 37-year-old is currently mired in. Usman went on to lose to Edwards via majority decision in their trilogy in March 2023 and dropped a majority decision to Khamzat Chimaev seven months later.
Still, Usman, the No. 2-ranked welterweight, vows that he'll snap that skid if given a crack at Muhammad.
"It is what it is. If that is my next fight, then of course I'm going to have to go in there and do what I do," Usman said.
"But at the same time, when you become champion, you feel invincible and you just start running your mouth off to the rest of the world just like Leon Edwards did.
"I will put that to rest if the UFC says 'yep, that's the next fight.' Then, I'll go in there and take back my belt," he insisted.
"But if they don't, it is what it is. I'll be a little bit more patient and when it's my time, I'll go take care of business."
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