Colby Covington Shuts Down Belal Muhammad’s Potential Title Opportunity Should He Win at UFC 296

Belal Muhammad’s long-awaited title shot will have to keep waiting—if Colby Covington has anything to say about it.

Former interim champ Covington (17-3) is set to challenge Leon Edwards (21-3, 1 NC) for the welterweight title on Saturday in his first outing since March 2022. While many considered the 23-3 Muhammad to be the rightful next challenger thanks to his 10-fight unbeaten streak, the promotion elected to award the title shot to the brash “Chaos.” Edwards himself has called the challenger’s credentials into question as well, pointing out that the last three opponents Covington beat are no longer in the UFC.

Covington fired back at Wednesday’s press conference, referring to Muhammad as a “racist” and “race baiter.”

“No, who wants to fight a racist?” Covington said. “I mean could you imagine if I said someone earned something off the color of their skin? That’s absolutely despicable. It’s disgusting. That guy hasn’t deserved anything. It’s not my fault he’s not a star. You have to make yourself a star. I’m the one that did the things that needed to be done to become a superstar like I have. What has he done? He hasn’t done anything.

“He’s out there race baiting saying ‘you earned this because of the color of your skin, it’s white privilege.,’” he added “Are you f------ kidding me? Dude, he’s not getting no title shot. There will be no title shot for him.”

Responding to Covington, Muhammad dismissed the idea of “Chaos” choosing his opponents, while also taking a swipe at Edwards, referring to recent reports that the champ removed undefeated Irish prospect Ian Garry from his home gym, Team Renegade. “Remember the Name” wrote:

“NEITHER OF THESE CLOWNS CALLS THE SHOTS Leon’s a nerd who throws people out of his gym because he can’t handle competition and Colby is just a bum Trying to wait for Trump to be president again so he feels relevant…”

White has said that Muhammad will “100%” go on to fight the winner of the UFC 296 headliner.

UFC 296 takes place on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Feature. The card will be co-headlined by a flyweight title bout between reigning champion Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval.