Newly crowned UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad is on paper now officially one of the top 10 fighters on the planet, regardless of weight class.
According to the new UFC rankings, voted on by a panel of “media members”, Muhammad was ranked six this week after his title victory over former champion Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC 304 on Saturday.
Muhammad, who had not been ranked previously, advances over Edwards, former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, and now number nine ranked UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
The rankings may come as a surprise to a few, especially considering current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones often finds himself at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings and oddsmakers are predicting Aspinall to upset Jones in a potential showdown.
In 18 pro fights, Aspinall has only been in the cage a total of 41 minutes with a 100% finish rate and holding the UFC record for shortest average fight time at 2:02.
