The expected first title defense of welterweight champ Belal Muhammad will not be happening at UFC 310 as expected.
Muhammad has pulled out of his fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov on December 7, 2024, with news of the development first reported by journalist Al Zullino. Shortly after, Muhammad himself posted a video on social media explaining what took him out of the fight.
“Caught a bone infection in my foot .. had to put a picc line in my arm for iv antibiotics the next 6 weeks with no physical activity,” wrote Muhammad.
Muhammad captured gold by defeating Leon Edwards this past July. The victory capped off a years-long run that saw him amass a record of 10-0, 1NC dating back to January of 2019.
Rakhmonov is a perfect 18-0 and has taken the UFC welterweight division by storm.
UFC officials have yet to comment publicly on the withdrawal of welterweight champ Belal Muhammad, but it leaves UFC 310 in need of a new main event. It also remains unclear as to whether Rakhmonov will stay on the card. In the meantime, the following reported bouts are attached to the event, set for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 7:
- Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. TBD
- Alexandre Pantoja (c) vs. Kai Asakura – for the UFC flyweight championship
- Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
- Vicente Luque vs. Nick Diaz
- Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Randy Brown vs. Bryan Battle
- Łukasz Brzeski vs. Tallison Teixeira
- Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van
- Clay Guida vs. Chase Hooper
- Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
- Anthony Smith vs. Dominick Reyes
- Rizvan Kuniev vs. Martin Buday
- Virna Jandiroba vs. TBD
