Vicente Luque focused on defeating Belal Muhammad, not UFC welterweight title picture

LAS VEGAS – Vicente Luque will not stress over trying to get the next shot at the UFC welterweight title.

The top contender is taking things step by step and will take the shot at the belt whenever the UFC decides it’s his time for him to fight the champion. Luque (21-7-1 MMA, 14-3 UFC) is among the very best fighters in the division and has a good resume to make a case for being the next title challenger, especially if he wins his next UFC bout.

Luque is set to take on Belal Muhammad in the first main event of his UFC career at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 34. It’s a pivotal bout for the welterweight division. Yet, despite the importance, Luque remains cool and unworried on whether or not he’ll get a crack at the champion with a win.

“I think the big thing is for me to get a big performance on Saturday,” Luque told reporters at the UFC on ESPN 34 media day. ” It’s not going there and securing a win. I got to get a big one and from there we can see. Maybe I can jump straight to the title depending on what goes on in the division.

“But I’m a fighter, I love to fight. And if I need one more, I’ll be ready, and I’ll fight anybody up there. So Khamzat (Chimaev), Colby (Covington), whoever they want to put in front, we’ll see. But first, I got to go past Belal. If not, there’s no after that.”

Luque is currently on a four-fight winning streak and 10-1 in his past 11 bouts. He also holds a knockout win over his opponent Muhammad (20-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC), which dates back to 2016.

The Brazilian thinks the bout against Muhammad comes at perfect timing and sees it as a new matchup.

“It’s hard to tell, but I prefer to forget the first fight because it was short notice, I fought two minutes, and that was it,” Luque said. “If I look at that fight and think about it, I’m going to underestimate Belal and that’s something I cannot do because he has evolved and he has great wins. So yeah, I prefer to forget that first fight.”