Shavkat Rakhmonov is not worried about a future showdown with Ian Machado Garry.
When welterweight champion Belal Muhammad withdrew from his title defense against Rakhmonov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) at UFC 310 on Dec. 7 due to a bone infection, Machado Garry (15-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) campaigned to fight Rakhmonov on the same card. However, shortly after, the promotion announced that Machado Garry will face Joaquin Buckley (20-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN 63 headliner on Dec. 14 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
If a fight between Rakhmonov and his former Kill Cliff FC teammate ever does materialize, their history makes “Nomad” confident.
“To be honest, I don’t care,” Rakhmonov said through an interpreter on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I’m ready if it’s going to be him after he wins his next fight. If it is, it could be good for both of us. We can do it. If he wants to try and take my zero, he can try, but I know the same thing is going to happen that’s happened in the training.
“I’m going to just keep it the same way, and I’m pretty confident that I’m going to beat him. … You know, it’s just training. I don’t want to praise myself too much. It’s just training, but I feel comfortable with how the training went. Whether it was striking or the ground, I felt comfortable and in control. So, I’m pretty confident in this matchup.”
Rakhmonov is currently lobbying for an interim title fight against Kamaru Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC), but the UFC is yet to announce a replacement fight.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.