What’s Next for Shavkat Rakhmonov After an Impressive Statement Win Over Neil Magny?

Posted on by Jim Smarts

Shavkat Rakhmonov is one of the most impressive talents in the UFC at the moment. ‘Nomad’ took on his biggest test to-date in the UFC and passed with flying colors as he stopped Neil Magny in the second round to maintain his record of never having gone to the third round in his UFC career which is insane considering he is on his fourth fight in the promotion. 

The UFC was struggling to find an opponent for Rakhmonov, given that there was very little reward and a lot of risk in facing someone like him. However, as he has shown before, Magny is not afraid of taking on the toughest challenges the UFC has in store. ‘The Haitian Sensation’ had previously also tossed his name in the hat to take on Khamzat Chimaev. 

‘Nomad’ is currently 16-0 in his professional MMA career. Going into the fight against Magny, many believed he would either be found out or establish himself as a fighter to look out for at welterweight which is an extremely talent-stacked division to begin with. As soon as the fight started, a lazy kick from Magny allowed Rakhmonov to get the fight to the floor where he displayed impressive top control.

A similar pattern was followed in the second round where Rakhmonov got the fight to the floor and was able to dominate there. With less than 10-seconds to go in the second round, ‘Nomad’ transitioned beautifully and secured a guillotine, although there were only 5-seconds to the end of the round, the choke was so tight that Magny had no other option but to tap out. 

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What is next for Shavkat Rakhmonov after moving to 4-0 in the UFC?

After the win, Rakhmonov stated that he wanted to take on Stephen Thompson in his next fight. In the post-fight press conference, he added the likes of Nate Diaz, and Jorge Masvidal to his list of targets. 

At this point in time, it looks highly unlikely that the UFC will offer him either of the fights that he wants. Rather, a fight against someone like Sean Brady or Vicente Luque would make more sense for ‘Nomad’.

Who do you think Shavkat Rakhmonov should face next? Let us know in the comments below!