UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad believes Ian Machado Garry could potentially make it easy against Shavkat Rakhmonov this Saturday in Las Vegas.
Belal Muhammad is keeping a close eye on this weekend's UFC 310 co-headliner between welterweight contenders Ian Machado Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov. The two undefeated former teammates will face off in the UFC 310 co-main event for a chance to face Muhammad in the welterweight champion's first title defense.
Muhammad won the title by defeating Leon Edwards by unanimous decision at UFC 304. He was scheduled to face Rakhmonov in the headliner of UFC 310 before withdrawing due to an infection.
Garry and Rakhmonov have the opportunity to cement themselves as the worthy next title challengers upon Mohammed's return to the Octagon. While both undefeated fighters have their strengths, Garry enters UFC 310 as a modest betting underdog ahead of fight night.
Despite the odds stacked against him, Garry is Muhammad's pick to star against Rakhmonov at UFC 310. After sharing his prediction on social media, Muhammad detailed why he strongly believes Garry can do the job this weekend will be fine.
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Belal Muhammad says Ian Machado's move will frustrate Garry Shavkat Rakhmonov
During a recent appearance on the Red Hawk Recap podcast, Muhammad opined that Garry's movement and mentality will be too much for Rakhmonov to overcome.
“I keep leaning towards Ian. When I look at the tape and look at it, I feel like he is the more technical striker, better and faster,” Muhammad said. “Shavkat has that toughness in him and he definitely has a better ground game than Ian, but I think Ian is very smart with the way he moves. He's not affected by the crowd or anything like that, he'll hang on and fight his way to a win and he doesn't care if he gets booed or not.
“The fact that they trained together… Shavkat gets hit a lot. So if I put money on it, I put it on Ian.”
Garry and Rakhmonov are two of the welterweight division's exciting young stars who could potentially be in the mix for a while. Before signing with the UFC, Garry and Rakhmonov won world titles in mid-tier promotions, including Garry's title win in Cage Warriors.
Both welterweights have dominated their competition since making the move to the UFC Octagon. Garry last defeated Michael 'Venom' Page at UFC 303, while Rakhmonov defeated former title challenger Stephen Thompson in his last fight at UFC 296.
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Ian Machado Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov battle to be Belal Muhammad's next opponent
At the time of writing, the time frame for Muhammad's return is uncertain, although he is tentatively targeting a return in the first semester of 2025. In the podcast appearance mentioned above, Muhammad said he has recently returned to hitting pads and is nowhere near going full throttle in the gym.
Although Garry vs. Rakhmonov isn't the main event of UFC 310, it may be the main card fight that gets the most attention. The fact that both welterweights are undefeated and one of them is at risk of suffering his first loss adds to the intrigue.
Garry and Rakhmonov fight with a lot on the line at UFC 310. The champion will be watching and he expects Garry to use his strengths in pursuit of victory.
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