{"id":293562,"date":"2025-11-19T15:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/293562\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T15:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:58:09","slug":"shavkat-rakhmonov-can-beat-islam-makhachev-jorge-masvidal-weighs-in-on-welterweight-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/293562\/","title":{"rendered":"Shavkat Rakhmonov Can Beat Islam Makhachev – Jorge Masvidal Weighs In On Welterweight Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t \"Shavkat<\/a>December 6, 2024, Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nv, United States: LAS VEGAS, NV -DECEMBER 6:Shavkat Rakhmonov steps on the scale for the official weigh-ins for UFC310 – Pantoja vs Asakura at UFC Apex on December 6, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada \/PxImages Las Vegas, Nevada United States – ZUMAp175 20241206_zsa_p175_001 Copyright: xLouisxGrassex\t\t\t \t\t\t <\/p>\n

Who can beat Islam Makhachev<\/a>? Carlos Prates? Michael Morales<\/a>? Kamaru Usman<\/a>? Ian Garry<\/a>? Belal Muhammad? Former two-time title challenger, Jorge Masvidal, believes that none of these men are up to the job, but one man is\u2026Shavkat Rakhmonov.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UFC 322 \u2013 Makhachev Takes Welterweight Crown Islam Makhachev beats Jack Della Maddalena to take welterweight crown during the UFC welterweight mixed martial arts MMA title fight, on November 15, 2025 in NYC, USA. Photo by Louis Grasse\/PX Images\/ABACAPRESS.COM New York City NEW YORK CITY, NY United States PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRAxUK Copyright: xPXxImages\/ABACAx<\/p>\n

After his dominant performance at UFC 322, Islam Makhachev is now the hunted at 170lbs and he\u2019s not short of contenders who are all putting their names in the hat to meet the Dagestan native in his first title defence. The P4P #1 is without a doubt a scary prospect for any foe, with his dominant wrestling style and ability on the feet, he\u2019s a tough puzzle to work out.<\/p>\n

Masvidal believes that Shavkat Rakhmonov has the skills to do it.<\/p>\n

Shavkat Rakhmonov Can Beat Islam Makhachev<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Death Row MMA podcast<\/a>, Masvidal discussed who he thinks might be next for the champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s Carlos, I\u2019m happy. If it\u2019s Morales, I\u2019m happy. But we also gotta add the monster at that weight class, the boogeyman, Shavkat. Shavkat is amazing. And that\u2019s the only guy I think that can beat Islam\u2026 He\u2019s naturally bigger, great wrestler, has endless gas, and he\u2019s not bad on the feet. He does eat some shots to give some shots, but he\u2019s not bad on the feet\u201d<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s got a good point. Shavkat Rakhmonov is the most well-rounded guy in the division. Undefeated at 19-0, he\u2019s notched eight TKO\/KO victories and 10 submission victories, only going the distance once. He\u2019s finished the likes of Geoff Neal, Stephen Thompson and Neil Magny as well as proving himself over the five round distance last time out against Ian Garry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>December 7, 2024, Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nv, United States: LAS VEGAS, NV -DECEMBER 7:Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry meet in the octagon for a 5-round bout during UFC310 \u2013 Pantoja vs Asakura at T-Mobile Arena on December 7, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada \/PxImages Las Vegas, Nevada United States \u2013 ZUMAp175 20241207_zsa_p175_833 Copyright: xLouisxGrassex<\/p>\n

The worrying thing for opponents of\u00a0Nomad is that he doesn\u2019t seem to have a hole in his game. There are questions surrounding how his body would hold up through a championship camp, however. He\u2019s suffered badly with injuries throughout his short UFC tenure. He\u2019s been inactive for 12 months following his victory over Garry due to a number of different injuries. He is set to return in 2026, however, so let\u2019s hope that he can get back to full fitness and be matched with Makhachev sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"December 6, 2024, Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, Nv, United States: LAS VEGAS, NV -DECEMBER 6:Shavkat Rakhmonov steps…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-293562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}