On UFC 315, Belal Muhammad will make the first defense of his welterweight title after his reign was interrupted by an injury.
After beating Leon Edwards on UFC 304 in July, the new title holder would return later in 2024 to face the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Muhammad was unfortunately forced to withdraw from his UFC 310 matchup with 'Nomad', which means that Rakhmonov saw and defeat Ian Machado Garry instead.
'Remember the name' has since overcome this injury, but he will now be confronted with Jack della Maddalena after Rakhmonov was unable to make the change before 10 May.
Injuries have been a big factor at the top of the Welterweight Division, but it could have been much worse for the current champion of the division in a different scenario.
Belal Muhammad describes the size of his toe infection and how he was lucky to prevent it from being more serious
After he had shared details about the toe injury and the infection he fought before UFC 310, it was clear that this was not a setback that could have been fighting Belal Muhammad.
The 36-year-old spoke in more detail about the setback during a recent appearance about the Mightycast of Demetrious Johnson, where he remembered what he was told by his doctor.
Mohammed said that the infection was so important because of the injury he sustained, making it more difficult to treat and accelerate the process of processing process.
“Because it was infected and the toe was broken, the infection went straight into the bone and came in faster. So it spread much faster.
“If it was alone on the skin, it would have been easier to deal with it and have worked the antibiotics and it would not have spread so quickly, but he said that it had been broken since the toe, it went into the toe and it went straight into the bone.
Fortunately for Mohammed, as he was told by his doctor, he had two things in his favor that helped him to fight the infection and make a complete recovery.
He was quickly tackling the problem and as a professional athlete his body was strong enough to fight with it.
The Mohammed doctor told him that many people suffering from a similar infection are not so lucky with the only way to prevent it from spreading to remove the entire area.
“He had something like this:” If you had waited a few more days, it would have grown up. Because you are healthy, most people who have bot infections are happy diabetics and often I cut it right away. ”
“I cut a toe, cut a foot – it comes off. But luckily for you we give you four weeks, hopefully the antibiotics will come into effect, it will work and we will see it, but I see that you are healthy and your body is fighting. “Thank goodness it was. ”
Belal Muhammad is not a shortage of challengers when he passes UFC 315
As a result of his injury before UFC 310, Belal Muhammad now has a whole row of potential opponents who stand in line to fight him if he can pass Jack della Maddalena on 10 May.
Booking the matchup again with Shavkat Rakhmonov is very logical, but there are several other contenders who have recorded big victories since 'Nomad' competed for the last time.
Not to mention the Islam Makhachev factor that hangs during the main event of Saturday evening, where the lightweight champion may go up a division in the near future.
Muhammad will not look beyond his first challenger, but there are several big names that all wait for this fight to finish so that they can shoot their shot.