Rakhmonov quickly established himself as a dangerous contender in the UFC, as the former M-1 Global welterweight champion joined the UFC in 2020 and started tearing through the opposition in the 170-pound division.
Back-to-back submission finishes over Brazilians Alex Oliveira and Michel Prazeres were followed by a spectacular first-round TKO of Carlston Harris as Rakhmonov put the rest of the welterweight division on notice.
A second-round guillotine choke of Neil Magny followed, before rear-naked choke finishes of Geoff Neal and two-time former title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson removed any doubt that he was a serious threat to the division’s elite.
Rakhmonov reveals he’s back in training after knee surgery
In his last UFC outing, Rakhmonov defeated Ian Machado Garry on the scorecards in December 2024 in a bout that saw him taken the distance for the first and only time in his career so far. However, after the fight it emerged that Rakhmonov had competed while injured, and he needed to step away from active competition to undergo knee surgery.
“I actually injured myself before the fight against Ian Garry because I had to prepare for such a long time and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to fight,” Rakhmonov told Ariel Helwani.
“That’s why I fought and took a risk. The injury didn’t get worse in the fight. It was the same scale before and after the fight.
“First, I wanted to avoid the surgery and give rest to the injury and rehab, but it wasn’t enough, so I had to do surgery still. I’ve been out for a while. Soon it’s going to be a year. But right now, I feel good, and I feel healthy, and I believe I’ll be ready to fight at the end of February or March. We’ll see.”
Rakhmonov ready to fight another contender if title fight doesn’t materialise
Rakhmonov said that his ideal-world solution would be to bounce straight back into a title fight with newly-crowned welterweight champion Islam Makhachev, but he said that, due to Makhachev being unavailable for a Q1 title defence due to him observing Ramadan, it might not be compatible with his plans to get back into the Octagon early in the year.
“I would prefer to fight for the title next, but this timeline is not going to work for Islam – February or March,” Rakhmonov admitted.
“He’ll probably defend his belt in April or May, around that time.
“Of course, if I can fight Islam next, I’m ready. I’ll do it. But also I was supposed to fight for a title and I had a respectful reason why not to take this opportunity, and I was promised a title shot in the future.
“But again, if I have to fight for the title shot again, I have no problem. I can prove again I’m the rightful No. 1 contender.”
