Yesterday, the fourth and fifth-ranked UFC Welterweight fighters Tweeted that they will fight anyone in all caps. They are Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns. Yesterday morning Gilbert sent his Tweet first, Belal responded only four minutes later. From the UFC's perspective, this seems like a no-brainer to book. Two top five fighters that have proven time and again that they will fight anyone. Burns didn't have to take Neil Magny this past Saturday, but he did because he just wants to fight. Belal also took a gamble at UFC 280 when he fought undefeated Sean Brady, no longer undefeated. They took an unbeaten opponent and fighter outside the top ten in the rankings. Someone like Colby Covington would refuse both of those fights. This is why you haven't seen Covington vs Muhammad, or Covington vs Burns. Colby is simply afraid of fighting contenders. He's also entitled. He believes he should fight for the belt and only the belt unless he absolutely knows he can rag-doll his opponent like when he fought Jorge Masvidal.
When it comes to Belal and Gilbert, these are two guys that can't be rag-dolled. Belal and Gilbert have proven time and time again how tough and how resilient they are. That's why they are a perfect match for each other. Gilbert Tweeted a poll this morning asking the fans who his next opponent should be. Colby was winning by two percent the last I saw. However, the real MMA fans know Colby won't take a fight against Gilbert and that Belal would love to step into the octagon with Burns.
Why do I say Colby is entitled and will only do what's best for Colby? Simply look at his last five fights. Masvidal in March 2022, Usman in November 2021, and December 2019. In Between fighting for Usman's title, he fought Tyron Woodley in his second to last UFC fight before losing to Jake Paul twice. His fight before that was Robbie Lawler in August of 2019 and let's face it Robbie Lawler has been on a downhill slope since 2016. Masvidal has zero grappling game and zero ground game, the only chance he had against Colby was a home run that he just couldn't hit. Usman worked Colby twice, we don't need to ever see that again. Colby fought two old men way past their primes in Lawler and Woodley. None of those three wins are impressive, none should have warranted a title shot. If Colby somehow manages to weasel his way into another title shot he's just gonna get knocked out by Leon Edwards or smoked by Kamaru Usman. Maybe if Colby fought a Belal, or fought a Gilbert Burns, or a Khamzat Chimaev I would respect him and say yeah he deserves a title shot. However, he is an entitled diva and we probably won't see him for a while in all honesty. Personally, I believe he knows he has no chance at Welterweight anymore and will move to the Lightweight Division as he barely cuts any weight to make 170. There were talks of Colby vs Khamzat to co-main the UFC 286 card which is Edwards vs Usman three for the Welterweight Championship. Rumors were flurrying it was going to be a number one contender's fight, but as we know now the co-main event is Justin Gaehtje vs Rafael Fiziev. What happened? It sounds like I'm right again and Colby won't fight the dangerous Chimaev. Colby still has legal issues going on due to when Masvidal jumped him, so maybe that is also causing Colby's delayed return.
With Colby MIA and Belal and Gilbert ready for action it seems like the UFC is just wasting time not getting Muhammad vs Burns ready to go. Frankly, Muhammed vs Burns should be the number one contender's fight. We all know Khamzat is really a Middleweight and Colby is probably moving to the Lightweight division. Covington vs Poirier seems likely in the future. As for Burns and Belal, hopefully, the UFC is listening to their fighters especially the fourth and fifth-ranked fighters when they are more than willing to fight each other.
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