Shavkat Rakhmonov pleads for a fight for the UFC title

Undefeated Kazakh fighter Shavkaht Rakhmonov believes he is the next legitimate challenger in the 170-pound division.

Rakhmonov, who has an 18-0 record and a 100% finish rate in his professional career, has long been touted as a future title contender in the UFC’s talent-rich welterweight division – and after Belal Muhammad successfully stripped Leon Edwards of his world title at a UFC event in Manchester a few weeks ago, he believes the time has come for his first shot at UFC gold.

“UFC thinks I’m the No. 1 contender and that I should be the next one because there is no clear challenger anyway,” Rakhmonov said through his interpreter during a recent interview with Submission Radioas noted by MMA Junkie. “I have 100% wins in the UFC, so I should be next. Everyone else is pretty close, but I think they need one or more wins to get that title shot, so I should be next.”

Rakhmonov was last seen in the cage in December of last year, where he scored a second-round rear-naked choke against former title contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

But even though he has only reached the third round twice in his 18 professional fights, Rakhmonov predicts a difficult challenge against the new champion Muhammad.

“I think it will be a very hard fought fight,” he explained. “I don’t think it will be an easy fight. It will be a tough fight and whoever imposes their own style on their opponent will win. Even though it won’t be easy, I believe I will win in the end.”