Shavkat Rakhmonov has suggested recent reports of him re-injuring his knee are not true and he will return to the cage in 2027.
Rakhmonov hasn’t fought since a December 2024 fight against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 310 — a fight that was originally supposed to be a title fight against Belal Muhammad for the welterweight title. Unfortunately, Muhammad was forced to pull out due to a bone infection in his foot. Rakhmonov decided to stay on the card and fight rising contender Garry despite existing issues
with his ACL and meniscus.
This was a mistake.
Rakhmonov would beat Garry via hard-fought decision, but the grind of the fight (plus several oblique kicks) left his knee completely wrecked. “Nomad” spent a year out rehabbing his knee, only to re-injure it and undergo surgery in January 2026. There was some hope that Rakhmonov would return by December, but that possibility was recently ruled out.
Perhaps that was what triggered stories across Russian media that Rakhmonov had injured the knee again. But in new posts on his social media, Shavkat denied these reports.
“Another week of hard training done,” he posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account. “Getting stronger every single day.”
A post on his Instagram featured another positive caption “Soon 2027.”
That’s encouraging, because another major setback regarding his knee would have many writing the Kazakh fighter off completely. Knee injuries have ended the career of plenty of athletes, and at a certain point how is a knee supposed to hold up in a fight if it can’t even hold up in training?
There may be a silver lining if Rakhmonov has to wait a little longer before he returns to action: there are currently active conversations going on amongst commissions regarding the banning of oblique kicks in MMA. Considering his knees are now known weak spots, it may help to come back after the rules change than before.
