Just a little over a week ago at UFC Columbus, Neil Magny (26-8) was back in action. The Haitian Sensation was taking on Max Griffin and Magny was looking to pick up his second straight win inside the octagon.
Before last weekend, Magny had defeated Geoff Neal back in May of 2021. Magny was able to edge by Max Griffin winning a split decision which made him 5-1 over his last six fights.
After the fight was over, Magny took to the microphone and called out Khamzat Chimaev. Chimaev is of course fighting former title challenger Gilbert Burns on this upcoming weekend’s UFC 273 main card.
Chimaev has been this boogeyman type figure who nobody wanted to fight. However, Magny is someone who has called him out from the very beginning. It’s a fight Magny begged the UFC for, but alas, he didn’t get that fight.
While he did make the callout, the only way he gets the fight is if Chimaev loses to Gilbert Burns. If Chiamev beats Burns, it’s likely going to be a title shot or title eliminator next for Chimaev which would rule out The Haitian Sensation.
UFC’s Next Top Prospect vs Magny?
While a fight with Chimaev might not be in the cards, there’s another top prospect that could be in line to face Magny. That prospect would be Kazakhstan’s Shavkat Rakhmonov (15-0).
In October of 2020, Rakhmonov made his UFC debut against Alex Oliveira. He scored a first round submission win and he was off and running. Thus far, he’s fought three times in the UFC and he’s 3-0 with three finishes.
Rakhmonov recently said that he wanted to fight Magny, and Magny has already responded on Twitter saying he’s in. While a fight with Chimaev was never truly in the cards, this fight is perfect for the UFC.
While Rakhmonov is unbeaten and definitely a top prospect, he doesn’t have the same buzz that Chiamev did. Thus, the promotion isn’t going to fast-track him the way that they did with Chimaev.
A fight with Magny would be the perfect test to see just how good Rakhmonov is. I think the UFC will go in this direction and don’t be shocked to see this fight get put together for the summer.