Shavkat Rakhmonov is finally ready to get back to work after months of battling injuries. The undefeated welterweight has been out since last December, when he beat Ian Machado Garry by decision to cement himself as the No. 1 contender. He was originally booked to face Belal Muhammad for the title at UFC 315, but an injury forced him off the card and put his momentum on pause.
Now healthy again, Rakhmonov knows the next title shot isn’t guaranteed. However, he already knows who he wants.
“Of course, I would prefer to fight for the title next, but I think this timeline isn’t going to work for Islam, February or March,” Rakhmonov said to Ariel Helwani. “He will probably defend his belt in April, May, that time. Of course, if I can fight Islam next, I’m ready I can do it. I was also supposed to fight for the title, but I had a respectful reason not to take the opportunity and I was promised a title shot in the future.
“Again, if I have to fight before getting a title shot, I have no problem with that. I can prove again I’m the No. 1 contender. … The most intriguing fight for me is Kamaru Usman. But I don’t believe he’s going to accept a fight against me. He’s turned down fights with me in the past.”
A matchup between Rakhmonov and Usman would be massive, especially if neither man gets the next title shot. But the Kazakh star doesn’t expect the former champion to take the risk.
Rakhmonov (19-0) already holds UFC wins over Ian Machado Garry, Stephen Thompson, Geoff Neal, Neil Magny and more. And even though his rise slowed down due to injuries, he made it clear nothing has changed about the end goal.
This past year was supposed to be Rakhmonov’s full breakthrough, but a torn meniscus and ACL forced him off the radar. His win over Garry at UFC 310 came with heavy consequences even though, according to him, Garry had nothing to do with it.
“I injured myself before the fight with Garry,” Rakhmonov said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “Because I had prepared for such a long time, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to fight. That’s why I fought, took a risk. The injury didn’t get worse in the fight, actually. It was same scale of the injury as before the fight and after the fight. First, I wanted to avoid surgery, so I gave it rest and did rehab, but it wasn’t enough. I still had to do surgery, and that’s why I’ve been out for a while.
“Right now, I feel good and healthy. I believe I’ll be ready to fight again at the end of February, probably March, so we’ll see.”
During his layoff, the welterweight division shifted. Islam Makhachev moved up as champion, while Michael Morales, Garry and Carlos Prates started making noise.
Despite Garry’s recent surge, capped off with his win over former champion Belal Muhammad at UFC Qatar, Rakhmonov isn’t moved.
“I sustained an injury before the fight. He didn’t injure me,” Rakhmonov said. “I don’t need to lie about it. People who trained with me can confirm that. UFC PI, physios can confirm that.
“Of course I have to admit that [Garry’s] been active. He’s been doing well, two wins, but doesn’t matter if you have two, three wins, I’m already the guy who beat him. If we fight again, I believe I’m going to beat him again. Especially next time, I’m going to do it more convincingly because I won’t be fighting injured.”
Islam Makhachev recently said he needs an active opponent, but Rakhmonov believes the champion knows exactly how dangerous he is.
“Maybe Islam is looking for a more suitable, more convenient opponent for him,” Rakhmonov said. “I believe I’m the most inconvenient, hardest fight for him in the division. I’m undefeated for a reason. I believe I can beat anyone in the division.
“Whatever the UFC decides, I believe he’ll accept. If he’s going to decide I’m next, I’m not going to miss this opportunity.”
He also had questions after watching Makhachev’s win over Jack Della Maddalena.
“Islam had a great performance, but I want to find out for myself: Did ‘JDM’ have such a bad performance, or Islam had such a good performance?” he said.
“I’m a universal fighter. I can make it hard for him everywhere. So I just want to find out for myself what’s going to happen.”
If the UFC decides he needs one more fight before the belt, Rakhmonov has one name circled in red.
“The most intriguing fight for me is Kamaru Usman, but I don’t believe he’s going to accept the fight against me. He’s been turning down fights against me in the past,” Rakhmonov said.
“It really doesn’t matter. There’s a lot of good options. Just give me the date and opponent in advance, and just make sure it’s a No. 1 contender fight.”
