Shavkat Rakhmonov Plans to Prove Title Shot Readiness by Defeating 'Wonderboy'

Shavkat Rakhmonov has had a tough time getting fights against Top 10 fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and he plans to make the most of his showcase this Saturday.

Rakhmonov (17-0) is slated to meet two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson at UFC 296 on Dec. 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event will be headlined by the division’s current titleholder, Leon Edwards, defending his welterweight strap against Colby Covington. While Rakhmonov sits at No. 5 in the UFC’s official rankings, a win over Thompson could catapult him into title contention considering the Kazakh has finished all 17 of his professional MMA fights.

Rakhmonov believes he is ready to fight for the title and is expecting to do so soon, though he is yet to have a conversation with the UFC in that regard.“Nomad” said on The MMA Hour:

“No, I didn’t have this conversation or any promises, but all I want to say is that I’m already ready to fight for the title and the win over Stephen Thompson will be another reason to prove that I’m ready. I don’t know what’s going to happen after, I just want to focus on Stephen Thompson and we’ll find out what’s going to happen after… Only God knows, but I wish to fight for the title next year. My goal is to win this belt and to bring this belt back to Kazakhstan.”

Currently undefeated in five UFC outings, finding higher ranked opponents has always been a task for Rakhmonov. Even the sixth-ranked Thompson turned him down on multiple occasions before finally accepting, in the wake of declining to face an overweight Michel Pereira earlier this year. Rakhmonov expressed his gratitude that such a veteran, high-level contender agreed to fight him:

“At first, I was scheduled to fight Kelvin Gastelum and he pulled out because of injury and it was understandable, but then I started to hear that Stephen Thompson is willing to fight me and I was just glad that he wanted to fight me because it’s hard to get me a fight. Even though he’s on the other side, he’s 40 years old, I still believe he’s a high-level athlete and it’s not easy to get him out from the top five or top 10. So I was just glad that someone accepted the fight with me.”