Kamaru Usman and Belal Muhammad in war of words

Former UFC champion Kamaru Usman seems to understand the quickest path to competing for gold again.

Usman, who has dropped three consecutive fights including two by majority decision, is calling out Belal Muhammad. At UFC 304, Muhammad claimed the welterweight title with a victory over Leon Edwards.

“Alright, enough of the nice guy,” Usman posted on Twitter. “You were never chasing me bum. You were barely in the rankings when I dominated the division.

“FYI, I have a win over Leon's son.”

Muhammad was quick to reply, even taking shots at Usman outside the Octagon.

“Dominated the division?” he asked. “You beat (Jorge) Masvidal twice and went to a cardio kickboxing war with Colby (Covington) twice.

“You were protected by UFC. Now you can barely walk. Your podcast sucks and your part in Black Panther sucked.”

The last piece of that got a response out of Usman, who called out Muhammad for his skills.

“Glad you watched me (in the film),” he wrote. “Unfortunately no one wants to watch you fight, much less put you in a movie.”

Riding a three-fight losing streak makes it difficult to give Usman a title shot at this moment. He is, though, a previous holder of a 20-1 record that included five defenses of the welterweight belt.

As mentioned, both of his most recent defeats came by the slim margin of a majority decision. He also was knocked out by Edwards in 2022 in a fight he was leading at the time