Shavkat Rakhmonov Reveals the Knee Gamble That Changed His UFC Title Path
GOATIFYShavkat Rakhmonov has spent almost two years outside the Octagon, and the unbeaten welterweight now believes one decision helped turn a championship opportunity into the longest interruption of his career. Rakhmonov says he entered his December 2024 fight with Ian Machado Garry carrying serious knee damage and, looking back, accepts that staying on the UFC 310 card was a gamble he probably should not have taken.
The circumstances explain why he was willing to risk it. Rakhmonov had originally been booked to challenge then-welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, only for Muhammad to withdraw because of injury. Rather than lose the date entirely, Rakhmonov remained on the card and faced Garry in a five-round No. 1 contender fight. He won a competitive decision, moved to 19-0 and preserved his unbeaten record, but the victory did not launch him directly into a title fight. Instead, the damage in his knee became the defining story of what followed.
Rakhmonov has now described the problem as involving both his ACL and meniscus, with the leg already compromised before he stepped into the cage. He later aggravated the knee again during his attempted comeback and required another operation in 2026. The result is an extraordinary contrast: one of the division's most dangerous contenders remains perfect on paper, yet he has not fought since UFC 310 and cannot promise with certainty that his body will allow the comeback he wants.
The UFC 310 Gamble Rakhmonov Now Regrets
Rakhmonov's own assessment of UFC 310 is unusually severe. He has said he should not have fought Garry with the condition his knee was in. The decision was driven by frustration as much as ambition: he had already endured health problems and a lengthy gap between appearances, and with a major bout finally available he chose to compete rather than withdraw again.
That choice still produced a victory. Garry pushed him through five rounds, becoming the first opponent in Rakhmonov's professional career to reach the final horn. For a fighter whose reputation had been built on finishing every opponent, a decision win looked less spectacular than the streak that came before it. In hindsight, however, simply getting through twenty-five minutes while protecting a damaged leg changes how the performance should be judged.
Rakhmonov has credited Garry as a complete and high-level opponent. At the same time, he believes a healthy version of himself would have created a wider gap. That is impossible to prove retroactively, but the physical limitations help explain why the fight looked different from his earlier UFC appearances. Before Garry, Rakhmonov had stopped established names including Stephen Thompson, Geoff Neal and Neil Magny. Against Garry, he had to win while managing both a dangerous opponent and a body that was not cooperating.
The most provocative part of Rakhmonov's recent comments was his comparison with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. Rakhmonov suggested that either man would have refused to fight with the kind of knee damage he carried into UFC 310. That is Rakhmonov's opinion, not a factual judgment about what either fighter would have done, but it shows how he now frames his own decision: as an act of daring that came with consequences rather than a model he necessarily wants to repeat.
There is also an important distinction between toughness and career management. Elite fighters are conditioned to compete through pain, especially when a title opportunity is nearby. But a compromised ligament can alter movement, defense, balance and the ability to absorb attacks, while also increasing the possibility of further injury. Rakhmonov won the immediate bet. The price was that the next chapter of his career never arrived on schedule.
A 19-0 Contender Returns to a Different Welterweight Division
The larger problem for Rakhmonov is that the division did not wait for him. His UFC 310 victory appeared to position him near the front of the title line, but injuries erased the momentum. He was making progress toward a return before hurting the knee again, an setback that led to another long rehabilitation and a second surgery in 2026.
Rakhmonov says he hopes to fight in 2027, though he has stopped short of guaranteeing that the comeback will happen. That caution is significant. Fighters almost always speak with certainty about returning; Rakhmonov instead acknowledges that the final answer depends on how his body responds. His goal remains the same — return, compete and ultimately win UFC gold — but the timetable is no longer fully under his control.
If he does make it back, his résumé gives him an unusual case. A 19-0 record and 7-0 UFC start are impossible to ignore. He has already beaten ranked opposition, demonstrated five-round endurance against Garry and shown that his finishing ability works at the highest level. He would not be returning as a prospect who needs to rebuild from the bottom.
But inactivity matters, too. Timing, reactions and confidence in a repaired knee all have to survive real fight conditions. A contender can look excellent in training and still discover that live competition demands movements the joint has not faced at full speed. For Rakhmonov, the first fight back may therefore be as much a test of durability as a test of skill.
The championship landscape has also changed dramatically. Islam Makhachev has become a central figure at welterweight, and Garry has continued to operate around the top of the division. The names, matchups and title routes Rakhmonov was preparing for in late 2024 are not the same ones he will see in 2027. His old place in the pecking order cannot simply be frozen for two years and handed back automatically.
That does not mean the title dream has disappeared. In fact, Rakhmonov's absence could make his return one of the division's biggest stories. An undefeated contender with a history of finishes, a win over Garry and unfinished championship business is an easy fighter to place in a meaningful matchup. One strong win could quickly remind everyone why he was viewed as a future champion before the injuries took over.
The complication is that Makhachev has already voiced doubt about whether Rakhmonov will compete again. Rakhmonov's response is effectively that the story is not finished yet. He cannot promise the ending, but he intends to give himself the chance to write it.
There is a broader lesson in the two-year gap. Rakhmonov's willingness to stay on UFC 310 protected his unbeaten record and produced a memorable win, yet it may also have delayed the championship opportunity he was trying to preserve. Fighters often have to choose between the opportunity in front of them and the health required to capitalize on the next one. Rakhmonov chose the immediate opportunity. Now his entire comeback is being built around recovering from that decision.
If 2027 finally brings him back, the question will not only be whether Shavkat Rakhmonov is still an elite welterweight. It will be whether a repaired knee, nearly two years of inactivity and a reshaped title picture can coexist with the fighter who started his UFC career 7-0. At 19-0, he still has no professional loss to overcome. His biggest opponent has been the time he has lost outside the cage.
