Just a few weeks ago, Dana White announced the main event of UFC 310 in December. On December 7th, welterweight champion Belal Muhammad (24-3, 1 NC) was supposed to defend his title against the undefeated challenger Shavkat Rakhmonov (18-0).
However, that fight is now off. Muhammad took to Instagram and revealed that he had a bone infection in his foot. With the infection, Muhammad is not able to do any physical activity for the next six weeks. With that, he’s having to pull out of the title fight against Rakhmonov.
Given the timeline, I would guess that he’s probably going to be able to return around March or April of next year. With Muhammad being out, the UFC has begun work on a replacement fight. There is another title fight on the card with flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura, but the plan is to keep that fight as the co-main event.
UFC 310
I have no insider information as of now on this so everything I’m saying here is just some ideas on what I think could happen with the UFC 310 main event. One of the leading candidates in my mind is an interim welterweight title fight. This fight would keep Rakhmonov on the card, but it would have him face former longtime champion Kamaru Usman.
Before Rakhmonov was given the fight against Edwards, there was some speculation on if Kamaru Usman would get the first shot at Belal Muhammad despite his recent losing streak. Now that Muhammad is out, I wouldn’t put it by the UFC to pair Rakhmonov against Usman with an interim title on the line. The winner would then face Muhammad whenever he is healthy.
I think it’s unlikely, but you cannot rule out Poatan. I could see the promotion reaching out to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira to see if he’d be willing to defend his light heavyweight title on the final PPV of the year. Poatan has come through over and over for the promotion and I could see him doing it again.
Depending on availability, Islam Makhachev – Arman Tsarukyan for the lightweight title could be an option. Makhachev has been nursing a hand injury. That injury prevented him from fighting at UFC 308. I doubt he’d be ready, but that could be another option. If they can’t add another title fight, my guess is that they’ll look to add a huge five-round non-title fight between top contenders.