Las Vegas – The co-main event for UFC 310 was thought to include an interim title, but it doesn’t matter for UFC welterweight title contender Shavkat Rakhmonov who takes on Ian Machado Garry this Saturday night.
“I believe the title fight will be more interesting for fans in Kazakhstan back home, but fight with Ian Garry’s also very competitive,” Rakhmonov told reporters including Cageside Press through a translator on Wednesday.
“He’s undefeated for a reason, and it’s a good challenge for me.”
Rakhmonov (18-0) was originally set to challenge UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad at UFC 310, but a bone infection took the champion out of the fight. When Rakhmonov asked to stay on the PPV matchmakers were able to get Garry to step up for the fight.
According to Rakhmonov many fighters turned the opportunity to face him down except for Garry. The #3 ranked welterweight was a bit surprised.
“I was surprised at first. Firstly, I was surprised he accepted the fight with (Joaquin) Buckley, why he didn’t wait to fight me, but then I respect the fact that he took the fight with me. Unlike others,” he said.
Garry had a matchup set for UFC Tampa against the #9 ranked Buckley, but a chance to become the #1 contender against Rakhmonov proved to be too juicy of an opportunity.
The fight isn’t coming in with no heat behind it. While the two have largely remained respectful Garry did release footage of a sparring session the two had some time ago when they both trained at Kill Cliff FC in Florida.
The footage was cut short leaving Rakhmonov to wonder what happened to the rest of the footage. Fans have been jumping on the video to see who they think could have an edge in the fight. Rakhmonov said in an interview this week that he did submit Garry in sparring.
Garry did not deny it.
“We did spar a few times, but it was light sparring. Technical work. In a fight it’s not going to be as light as in sparring,” he said.
“Anything can happen in training. I don’t think too much about that, but in a fight I’m going to show him that I’m better than him in all aspects of the game.”
Fans and fighters alike expected this fight to be for the interim title, but UFC CEO Dana White shot that down at his UFC 309 post-fight press conference.
“Of course I was interested in bringing this belt to Kazakhstan as soon as possible,” he said.
“It’s going to happen sooner or later.”
Shavkat Rakhmonov takes on Ian Machado Garry at UFC 310 this Saturday night from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
