Belal Muhammad has an idea who he feels deserves the first crack at his 170-pound title.

Muhammad, who outpointed former champion Leon Edwards several weeks ago in Manchester to claim the UFC’s welterweight crown, had been widely expected to face the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov is his next outing in a 170-pound fold which has several young contenders climbing towards the summit of the rankings ladder.

But Muhammad has another contender in mind: the former champion Kamaru Usman.

“Honestly, I would say Kamaru just because he’s fought the highest level for so long,” the champ told Submission Radio when asked about who he sees himself fighting next, as noted by MMA Junkie.

“And stylistically he has one of the best IQs in the game. So I think, for me, fighting somebody with close to an IQ of myself would be a harder fight.”

Usman, who is generally regarded as one of the finest welterweights in mixed martial arts history, is currently on a three-fight skid after first losing his world title to Leon Edwards in August 2022 before losing once more to the same opponent in their rematch several months later.

He was last October defeated by Khamzat Chimaev by majority decision in a close affair in a fight which he took on short notice.

And despite facing the first three-fight losing skid of his career, Muhammad says Usman would be the toughest test for him of all the available contenders.

“He still has tread on his tires,” Muhammad said of Usman. “People will sit there and say, like, you said, people must have forgot, right? And it’s, people are quick to forget about you, but he fought that fight with Khamzat on eight days’ notice, and it was a game of inches in that fight, right?

“If it was two more rounds in there, I would’ve been very interested to see how it would have went. That was a guy that nobody thought could touch him. He was immortal, and Kamaru made him look mortal on eight days’ notice in Abu Dhabi. So, that’s why I think he would be one of the toughest fights in the division.”