Welterweight champion, Belal Muhammad has had to withdraw from the UFC 310 main event, delaying his first title defence. Suffering from a nasty injury, Remember the Name announced via his social media that he was out of his scheduled bout.
“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 … Allahs plan is the best plan I’m sorry to everyone that were coming to see me Ill be back soon inshAllah”
Belal Muhammad shares some photos of the foot infection that forced him to withdraw from #UFC310.
I’m no doctor, but yeah, right call. 🤮 pic.twitter.com/xgV06ljeG4
— Danny Segura (@dannyseguratv) October 31, 2024
Muhammad was scheduled to meet the undefeated 18-0, Shavkat Rakhmonov having beaten Leon Edwards in dominant fashion at UFC 304 in July. The Chicago native has only pulled out of two UFC fights previously, once due to COVID and once due to injury in 2018.
UFC 310
UFC 310 is set to take place on December 7th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The card won’t be without a title fight, however. The men’s flyweight belt is on the line as Alexandre Pantoja faces promotional newcomer, Kai Asakura. Whether this fight is strong enough to hold up the entire card is currently unknown. Elsewhere on the card, Nick Diaz returns to face Vicente Luque, Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov meet in a rematch and Movsar Evloev and Aljamain Sterling clash at featherweight.
As of yet, the UFC hasn’t announced whether Rakhmonov will remain on the card, however, if he is, he deserves a shot at interim gold. Potential opponents could be Jack Della Maddalena or Ian Garry.
Wishing Belal a quick recovery. We’ll meet when you’re back at 100%. For now, I’m ready to take on any contender for the interim title at #UFC310
— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) October 31, 2024
It has been rumoured, however, that the UFC has contacted Alex Pereira to save the card (again) to face Magomed Ankalaev, although this rumour is unconfirmed and very unlikely.
🚨| The UFC have “approached” Alex Pereira regarding a potential fight with Magomed Ankalaev in the now vacant #UFC310 main event spot on December 7th.
[per @mmamania] pic.twitter.com/TadmR88u9s— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) October 31, 2024