Tomorrow night in the co-main event of UFC 310, we are going to see a five-round battle of the unbeatens with a welterweight title shot on the line. Undefeated top contenders Shavkat Rakhmonov (18-0) and Ian Machado Garry (15-0) will battle it out for a title shot.
Originally, Rakhmonov was supposed to fight Belal Muhammad in the main event for the welterweight title. However, after Muhammad suffered an injury, Rakhmonov took this fight against Garry to secure his title shot. Rakhmonov’s run has been insane. Not only is he 18-0, but he has a perfect 100% finish rate. Inside the octagon he’s gone 6-0.
Ian Machado Garry and Rakhmonov have trained together in the past. It’s worth noting that Rakhmonov got the better of Garry during those sessions, but Garry is much improved. Garry is 8-0 inside the octagon and he’s stepped up in competition along the way. Most recently, he won a competitive decision against Michael “Venom” Page at UFC 303.
UFC 310 Prediction
I think that we are in for a very competitive fight between these two. While the odds are heavy in favor of Rakhmonov at UFC 310, I think this fight is much closer than many expect. Ian Machado Garry is very good on his feet and he’s elusive. He’s going to need that tomorrow night.
In his last fight, we saw MVP get the better of him at times and he switched to his grappling. Rakhmonov has the big grappling advantage tomorrow night. In fact, I expect him to try to use that grappling throughout the fight and I ultimately believe that’s going to be the key in this fight.
While Rakhmonov is good on the feet, I would give the slight advantage to Ian Machado Garry. That said, I think we see this fight hit the mat quite a bit and I love Rakhmonov there. I ultimately think that Rakhmonov gets his 19th finish at UFC 310 in the form of a fourth round submission.
Prediction: Shavkat Rakhmonov by Submission