Shavkat Rakhmonov has been somewhat overlooked in the build to the welterweight title fight on May 10.
After their matchup at UFC 310 fell through due to an injury to the champion, Shavkat Rakhmonov was unable to face Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 in Montreal.
The undefeated contender is set for some time on the sidelines due to some injuries but that hasn’t stopped the welterweight division from moving on.
Along with Islam Makhachev seemingly making his way up to the division after Jack Della Maddalena defeated Muhammad to become the new champion, there are several other viable contenders.
Della Maddalena was also called out by Ian Machado Garry, leaving it up to Rakhmonov to finally break his silence when giving his thoughts on how everything played out on Saturday night.
- READ MORE: ‘I’ll be back’… Belal Muhammad breaks silence after losing the welterweight title at UFC 315
Shavkat Rakhmonov sends a message to Jack Della Maddalena and the rest of the welterweight division
Shavkat Rakhmonov hasn’t posted anything on his X, formerly Twitter, account since he spoke about having to turn down the opportunity to fight for the title at UFC 315.
It was this decision that put Jack Della Maddalena into a title shot in the first place after the rising contender was originally slated to fight Leon Edwards in March.
We still don’t know when ‘Nomad’ will be ready to compete again and that’s fairly worrying for him when it comes to other contenders pushing their way to the front of the line.
Sean Brady, who stepped in to face Edwards in Della Maddalena’s place, has already moved one spot above him in the 170 pound rankings to claim the #1-contender position.
This doesn’t appear to bother Rakhmonov who is confident that when he returns, he will receive the title shot that he earned by beating Ian Machado Garry last December.
He congratulated the division’s new champion in a social media post before reminding both Della Maddalena and the rest of the division that though he isn’t active at this moment in time, he’s not going anywhere.
“Congratulations to JDM. It was great performance after long layover and injuries. You know I’m the real challenge at 170. Sooner or later my time will come”
Matchmaking the UFC’s welterweight division before Shavkat Rakhmonov returns
It looks like the next welterweight title fight will be Jack Della Maddalena defending the belt against Islam Makhachev towards the back half of the year.
That essentially means that the other contenders will be fighting amongst themselves for the title shot after that with Shavkat Rakhmonov, Sean Brady, Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley all in the mix.
Rakhmonov, Brady and Machado Garry all believe that they deserve the next shot and Buckley is sure to echo the same sentiment if he beats Kamaru Usman in his next outing.
Based on the fact that he was previously booked to face the champion, Rakhmonov should be next but if either Brady, Buckley or Machado Garry are able to get a win over each other, it could really damage his chances.
It’s very hard to predict what will be next for ‘Nomad’ but whilst he’s recovering, Brady vs Machado Garry and the winner of Buckley vs Usman against a returning Belal Muhammad makes a lot of sense.