Shavkat Rakhmonov made another success in his record by defeating Stephen Thompson via submission during their UFC 296 bout. Yet, that’s not the only main highlight of Rakhmonov’s performance: the Kazakh fighter was still enduring an ankle injury during the fight.
Rakhmonov defeated Thompson through a rear-naked choke at the 4:56 mark of Round 2 of the UFC 296 bout. However, the fighter was too stingy in delivering kicks during the match. According to “Nomad,” it was all because of the injury he obtained six weeks before his UFC 296 bout. As the fighter shared, he had torn an ankle ligament, pushing him to consider withdrawing from the fight.
“I had a very serious injury and I was even close to pulling out from the fight, but I decided to risk it all, and that’s why I didn’t kick it with my legs, just used my knees,” Rakhmonov said through a translator during the UFC 296 post-fight show. “But thanks God, I got the victory.”
The success has brought Rakhmonov new clean records of 18-0 in his MMA career and 6-0 at UFC. Ultimately, this adds to his submission record, which is now at 10, complementing his eight KO wins and nine first-round finishes.
With his latest win, Rakhmonov reiterated his intent to have the title shot in the welterweight division, where Leon Edwards is the current champ. And despite admitting that “Belal Muhammad also deserves the title shot,” the 29-year-old hopes to challenge the champion as soon as possible. With this, Rakhmonov doesn’t want any kind of injury to stop him from taking any fights that will quickly lead him to the top.
“Hopefully, next time, with God’s willing, I’m going to be 100 percent,” Nomad said. “But it doesn’t matter,” Rakhmonov said. “Whatever injury [I have], you know I’m going to fight to my last blood, until the last sip of blood, because I have to get a win.”
