We haven’t seen Shavkat Rakhmonov since December 2024 where he won a hotly contested No. 1 contender’s bout against Ian Machado Garry. Now, his manager Sayat Abdrakhmanov is giving us an update on when
we’ll see the Kazakh “Nomad” again.
“Shavkat had health problems,” Abdrakhmanov told Ushatayka in a new interview. “In May we were offered to fight Belal Muhammad for the championship title. Unfortunately due to injury, Shavkat was unable to take part in this. And he’s still sort of recovering, but he’s already started full fledged training and will most likely be in fighting shape at the end of January, beginning of February. That’s the forecast now that we’re counting on.”
“He is now training twice a day, preparing with the aim of competing at the beginning of next year.”
The word going around was that Shavkat injured his knee, which fits with how long he’s been forced to sit out. But Abdrakhmanov refused to elaborate on the situation.
“I’m more of a proponent of not revealing things,” he said. “The art of war, the less your opponent knows the better. So I know everyone is interested, but I don’t see the point in revealing it. This does not give us any advantage. Let them know less, rather than spread this information.”
“Injuries have a big impact and it’s very difficult to come back from injuries. But in general Shavkat has already demonstrated his mentality and character more than once so we shouldn’t write him off.”
When Rakhmonov is finally ready to return, the welterweight landscape will be completely different from when he fought Garry for a title. That means at least one more fight before “Nomad” can get back into the contender’s circle.
“If we’re talking about the situation in the welterweight division, things are looking up,” Abdrakhmanov said. “A year ago there was a shortage of contenders. Shavkat was given a title shot in December with Belal, which [Belal] withdrew from. And in May he was given another opportunity to fight for the title. Now the division is moving forward, the rest are competing, and now there is a huge abundance of contenders and they’re all fighting each other.”
“The situation is such that simply waiting for the title shot will not work,” he concluded. “We need to come back again, remind people who we are, and once again earn the chance to fight for the belt. So we’ll see. It will be very interesting to see how these welterweight bouts go in November. After this the divisional balance will change and then the next steps will be visible.”
Current welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena looks to push back former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 322 in November. On the same card, Sean Brady faces Michael Morales, while Leon Edwards fights Carlos Prates. A week later, Ian Machado Garry faces Belal Muhammad in Qatar.
Once those two events go down and the dust settles, it will be the perfect time for Shavkat to return and attempt to reclaim his position at the top of the division.
