Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024 | 2 a.m.
A sure way to tell a dangerous fighter is when few opponents ever want to step up to fight him. Hardly anyone ever wants to fight UFC welterweight Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Current welterweight champion Belal Muhammad relented over time and agreed to a bout with the undefeated, 30-year-old Rakhmonov, but only after initially targeting 37-year-old former belt-holder Kamaru Usman for his first title defense.
Muhammad vs. Rakhmonov was booked as the headliner for UFC 310 on December 7 at T-Mobile Arena but wound up short-lived. Muhammad broke his toe and then developed a bone infection that forced him to pull out of the fight.
Then silence prevailed.
A parade of candidates tend to emerge when a seemingly more beatable opponent is left in a main-event slot without an opponent, but hardly anyone campaigned for a shot at Rakhmonov.
Fellow undefeated welterweight prospect Ian Garry proved the exception. The 27-year-old potentially could have kept carving his own easier path to an eventual championship bout,but instead jumped at the chance for a title eliminator against Rakhmonov.
“One thing the world will never be able to say about me … they will only be able to say that I’m a f**king gamer,” Garry said in a YouTube video released to announce the fight. “They will only be able to say that this guy will fight anyone, anywhere, any time, and the perfect example is giving me the boogeyman in the welterweight division and I’ll stand in there on three week’s notice and I’ll find a way to beat him.”
The Ireland native Garry (15-0 with eight stoppages) will now fight the Kazakhstan native Rakhmonov (18-0 with 18 stoppages) in a five-round co-main event at UFC 310 with the winner booked into a fight early next year against Muhammad.
Welterweight fighter Ian Garry, right, punches Gabe Green during UFC 276 at T-Mobile Arena Saturday July 2, 2022. Garry won the bout by unanimous decision.
A flyweight title bout between champion Alexandre Pantoja (28-5, 18 stoppages) and Kai Asakura (8-2, six stoppages) is now the main event, but in name and card placement only. Rakhmonov vs. Garry is the biggest draw in the UFC’s annual local year-end pay-per-view.
Unlike boxing, it’s exceedingly rare that two undefeated fighters square off this deep into their careers given the higher level of parity and lower rate of record-padding matchups in mixed martial arts.
“I’m very disappointed in our division,” Rakhmonov posted to social media after the Garry fight was finalized. “(Belal Muhammad, Colby Covington, Kamaru Usman, Jack Della Maddalena, Sean Brady,) you’ve all let fans down. The only one who backed up his words was Ian, and I respect that. But make no mistake, I’m coming for (Garry’s) zero (losses) and will fight for the belt after.”
If Rakhmonov is the most feared fighter on the current UFC roster, Garry might be the most hated. His nickname “The Future” turned off fans from the start as did heavy trash talking that appeared to be inspired by fellow countryman Conor McGregor, but without the former two-division superstar’s requisite charisma.
Garry’s also been accused of crossing the line with personal attacks, but not responding kindly when opponents have taken a similar tact. Several rivals have ridiculed Garry and his wife, English television sports personality Layla Anna-Lee.
Rakhmonov vs. Garry at least shouldn’t devolve to such juvenile, if not unsettling, bickering. The pair clearly have a respect for each other and were once training partners at one of the sport’s top gyms, Kill Cliff FC in South Florida. Rakhmonov still fights out of the facility headed by trainers Henri Hooft (a former kickboxing champion) and Greg Jones (a former collegiate wrestler), but Garry has sought to expand his repertoire with more recent stints in Brazil and Thailand.
“[Rakhmonov] is incredibly talented,” Garry said at a recent news conference before the fight was announced. “I’ve trained with him. I’ve shared the ring with him. We’ve hit each other. We’ve trained with each other. I have nothing but respect for the dude. It’s purely that I don’t want anyone else to beat him before me.”
No one has come close to beating Rakhmonov so far. His run has been reminiscent of longtime lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, whom some consider the greatest UFC fighter ever, especially with their similar tribal-influenced walkouts.
Nurmagomedov famously wore a sheepskin cap in a nod to his Dagestani warrior heritage; Rakhmonov sports a traditional Kazakh wolf-skin headdress.
Rakhmonov stands as a -400 (i.e. risking $400 to win $100) favorite at UFC 310 with Garry coming back at +325 (i.e. risking $100 to win $325), implying about a 78% chance at victory for the former.
Few are picking against Rakhmonov, though Muhammad is one of the few on record predicting a Garry shocker.
A skeptic would say that’s wishful thinking from Muhammad, who knows he will have to fight the winner.
Almost everyone wants to avoid Rakhmonov except Garry. UFC 310 will show whether such confidence is warranted or misguided.
This story originally appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.