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Shavkat Rakhmonov submits Stephen Thompson, moves to 18-0, lands 18 finishes – UFC 296 Highlights

Continuing his truly spectacular roughshod run to the welterweight championship, unbeaten Kazakh contender, Shavkat Rakhmonov becomes the first to…

Continuing his truly spectacular roughshod run to the welterweight championship, unbeaten Kazakh contender, Shavkat Rakhmonov becomes the first to submit former title challenger, Stephen Thompson with a second round rear-naked choke at UFC 296.

Rakhmonov, who entered tonight’s main card clash with former two-time title chaser, Thompson off the back of a March rear-naked choke win over Geoff Neal, holding the number five rank in the division.

And improving to 18-0 as a professional tonight, Uzbekistan-born contender, Rakhmonov also records his eighteenth straight career stoppage.

Battling with Simpsonville striker, Thompson in the clinch in the opening round, Rakhmonov took down the fan-favorite in the second frame — eventually forcing a rear-naked choke win with just 4 seconds remaining on the clock.

Off the back of his win, Rakhmonov called for a title charge against the victor of tonight’s UFC 296 headliner between Leon Edwards, and Colby Covington.

Below, catch the highlights from Shavkat Rakhmonov win at UFC 296

Another shot at undisputed gold for @ColbyCovMMA!

He and Leon Edwards are just two fights away at #UFC296! pic.twitter.com/5vtrSU9wLg

— UFC (@ufc) December 17, 2023

Shavkat Rakhmonov eyes title fight with win over Stephen Thompson at UFC 296: Of course I’m ready’

Undefeated welterweight contender, Shavkat Rakhmonov has claimed he will “be ready” for a shot at the division’s championship following…

Undefeated welterweight contender, Shavkat Rakhmonov has claimed he will “be ready” for a shot at the division’s championship following his return to the Octagon at UFC 296 later this month, should he land a victory over former title chaser, Stephen Thompson.

Rakhmonov, who currently holds the number five ranked welterweight contender, most recently featured at UFC 285 back in March, landing an eventual third round standing rear-naked choke win over common-foe, Geoff Neal in his return to active competition.

Improving to 17-0 as a result, Rakhmonov also maintained his jaw-dropping run of consecutive finishes, landing his ninth career submission win to go with a further eight separate knockout stoppage victories.

Shavkat Rakhmonov keen on title fight after UFC 296

In the midst of a five-fight winning run since landing the Dana White-led promotion back in 2020, Rakhmonov, a former M1-Global welterweight champion, claims with a victory over Simponsvilla native, Thompson in two weeks’ time at UFC 296, will prepare him for a long-anticipated and pegged title opportunity.

“Nobody won [against] him (Stephen Thompson) in standing game, but of course, I mentioned that sometimes he missed shots,” Shavkat Rakhmonov told Morning Kombat through an interpreter during a recent interview. “I never see him lose by choke. Only one time I remember Anthony Pettis won by knockout.”

“I don’t know, it depends on what the UFC says, but I think Belal Muhammad also deserves the title shot,” Shavkat Rakhmonov explained. “As of now, he will [be] backup [for] this fight [between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington], but of course I’m ready.”

Over the course of his brief Octagon tenure, fan-faovrite Uzbekistan finisher, Rakhmonov has latched onto stunning wins over Alex Oliveira, Michel Prazeres, Carlston Harris, Neil Magny, and the above-mentioned, Neal.

Do you think Shavkat Rakhmonov can win a UFC title in the future?

Stephen Thompson expects grappling spree from Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 296: ‘I think eventually he’s gonna shoot’

Former two-time welterweight title challenger, Stephen Thompson reveals he expects incoming opponent, Shavkat Rakhmonov to eventually show off his…

Former two-time welterweight title challenger, Stephen Thompson reveals he expects incoming opponent, Shavkat Rakhmonov to eventually show off his grappling chops in their upcoming UFC 296 clash later this month, claiming he doesn’t believe the Uzbekistan native will solely strike with him.

Thompson, a former two-time undisputed welterweight title challenger and current number six ranked contender, has been sidelined since he featured in the main event of UFC Fight Night Orlando back in December of last year, landing a fourth round corner’s stoppage TKO win over Kevin Holland in the pair’s Fight of the Night showing.

Himself sidelined since March of this year, number five ranked welterweight contender, Rakhmonov managed to land his seventeenth consecutive professional win and finish, stopping common-foe, Geoff Neal at UFC 285 in a third round standing rear-naked choke submission win.

Stephen Thompson expects Shavkat Rakhmonov to wrestle at UFC 296

And taking on Rakhmonov in a potential title-eliminator at UFC 296 later this month, Thompson, a decorated kickboxer, claimed he doesn’t expect the bout to stay exclusively on the feet, claiming the former will likely attempt to utilize his grappling.

“Do I feel like Shavkat (Rakhmonov) is going to stand there bang with me? I don’t think so,” Stephen Thompson told Submission Radio. “I think eventually he’s going to shoot. He’s going to shoot in and try to get the fight to the gorund, obviously. But he’s still a type of guy to try to finish. And I would rather go out on my shield than just somebody hold me there. You know what I mean?”

“One of the worst feelings that I have, is after a fight, walking through the airport and not having a bump or a bruise or an ache to show the battle that I had the night before,” Stephen Thompson explained. “And when I fought those two fights, with Belal (Muhammad) and Gilbert (Burns), I was literally walking through to the airport [with nothing]. The best feeling is walking though the airport the next day, can barely move, man. People are looking at you like, what did this guy go through last night.”

Who wins at UFC 296 later this month: Stephen Thompson or Shavkat Rakhmonov?

Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson was ‘Bullied’ into taking fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 294

Ex-Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson believes Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson was bullied into taking a fight with undefeated standout Shavkat Rakhmonov. Last month, Dana White revealed that Thompson would return for a clash with ‘Nomad’ as part of the promotion’s final pay-per-view of the year, UFC 296. The announcement came two months after ‘Wonderboy’ was scheduled to […]

Ex-Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson believes Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson was bullied into taking a fight with undefeated standout Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Last month, Dana White revealed that Thompson would return for a clash with ‘Nomad’ as part of the promotion’s final pay-per-view of the year, UFC 296. The announcement came two months after ‘Wonderboy’ was scheduled to step inside the Octagon at UFC 291 in July. However, his opponent, Michel Pereira, stepped on the scale three pounds over the weight limit, prompting Thomspon to turn down the fight.

Fight fans online immediately shared their displeasure with the booking, suggesting that the promotion is essentially sacrificing the aging ‘Wonderboy’ in order to give Rakhmonov another big win as UFC hopes to curate the next big welterweight superstar. But former Bellator and UFC fighter Josh Thomson had a different take, suggesting that Thompson was basically bullied into taking a fight against the Kazakh.

“He got bulled into this fight John,” Thomson claimed on an episode of his WEIGHING IN podcast with ‘Big’ John McCarthy.

He continued, “I mean, there’s like nothing he can do. They’re like, ‘You’re 40 years old or 41, and no matter how much we care, like no matter how much you’ve done for us, no matter how much we like you’… I’m surprised they didn’t give him the Kamaru Usman fight. Kamaru wanted it, he wanted it. It just didn’t… I’m surprised. But then again, we’re going to see exactly… This fight is going to be like this fight, I think Shavkat is going to be able to muscle, I would say muscle him around but find ways to get into the clinch and get this fight to the ground” (h/t MMA News).

‘Wonderboy’ and Kamaru Usman had shown mutual interest in fighting one another, but during an interview with MiddeEasy, Thompson indicated that the promotion had other plans for the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ leaving himself with little options left to fight up the rankings.

Currently, Shavkat Rakhmonov occupies the No. 6 spot in the welterweight top 10 while Thompson is holding strong at No. 7. If ‘Wonderboy’ manages to hand ‘Nomad’ his first career defeat on December 16, it could go a long way toward earning him one final shot at UFC gold before hanging up his gloves for good.

Shavkat Rakhmonov opens as decent betting favorite to defeat Stephen Thompson in their UFC 296 fight

Boasting arguably on the most impressive and most definitely exciting winning runs in the UFC today, Uzbekistan native, Shavkat Rakhmonov is hotly-tipped to continue in his rich-vein of winning form against former two-time welterweight title chaser, Stephen Thompson in their December clash at UFC 296. Rakhmonov, who currently sports the number six rank in the […]

Rakhmonov, who currently sports the number six rank in the official welterweight pile, turned in his whopping seventeenth professional victory – and seventeenth finish to boot back in March at UFC 285, submitting common-foe, Geoff Neal with a third round standing rear-naked choke win.

As for Thompson, the fan-favorite striking veteran will be sidelined for a year come his December fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov, most recently forcing a fourth round corner’s stoppage TKO win over recent Noche UFC feature, Kevin Holland at UFC Orlando in the pair’s headliner last December.

Shavkat Rakhmonov opens as betting favorite to beat Stephen Thompson at UFC 296

And amid the rise of Rakhmonov and his veteran status, number seven rated challenger, Thompson is currently riding a +320 betting underdog line against the former – who has opened as an impressive -410 betting favorite to dispatch Thompson at UFC 296.

Fans and punters alike can find a host of UFC betting sites to wager on outright winners of clashes as well as prop bets, ahead of what promises to be a blockbuster end-of-year schedule for the North American-based organization.

Making big noise since his arrival in the UFC, former M-1 Global welterweight kingpin, Rakhmonov made his Octagon bow against Alex Oliveira – stopping the Brazilian veteran with a first round guillotine choke submission win.

In consecutive victories and finishes since then, the 28-year-old has dispatched names like Neil Magny, and the above-mentioned, Neal – both with submission stoppages, which have gone a long way in earning the finishing starlet the moniker as a future welterweight champion under the promotion’s scrutiny.

Failing in two efforts to dislodge Tyron Woodley as welterweight champion in 2015, and 2016, respectively, Thompson will seek out one final championship push beginning with is end-of-year fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov – snapping a run of losses against both Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad with his TKO win over Holland.

Sidelined for some time, Simponsville veteran, Thompson also divulged recently that we may have seen a fight between himself and Shavkat Rakhmonov two years ago, until he candidly rejected a bout agreement from the UFC.

“It was a year and a half ao, maybe, I think, the UFC wanted me to fight Shavkat (Rakhmonov), and to be honest with you, I didn’t know who he was at the time,” Stephen Thompson said. “I think he’s only had, like, five fights in the UFC. Obviously, I turned it down, I didn’t know who the guy was. And then after that I tuned in and I saw him fight Neil Magny, saw him fight Geoff Neal, and I’m like, ‘Bro, this dude’s legit,’ and now he’s ranked above me.”

“So anybody’s that’s ranked above me, I told the UFC I’m down for,” Stephen Thompson explained. “This is the guy I think could possibly be welterweight champ at some point. He’s that good, undefeated, I think he has a 100 percent finish rate, so what better guy to go out there and show the world and the UFC that I deserve a title shot by fighting this guy.”

Can Shavkat Rakhmonov beat Stephen Thompson in December?

Stephen Thompson admits he previously rejected fight with UFC star Shavkat Rakhmonov: ‘I didn’t know who he was’

Former two-time welterweight title challenger, Stephen Thompson is slated to make his Octagon return in December at UFC 296 against the undefeated finishing ace, Shavkat Rakhmonov, however, revealed recently that the pairing may have materialized earlier – if he had not rejected a fight offer. Thompson, a former two-time welterweight championship challenger under the banner […]

Thompson, a former two-time welterweight championship challenger under the banner of the UFC, currently holds the number seven rank in the division, having been sidelined since he landed a fourth round corner’s stoppage TKO win over Kevin Holland in the main event of UFC Fight Night Orlando last December.

Slated to return at UFC 291 back in July, Thompson confirmed he turned down a catchweight fight with Michel Pereira, after the Brazilian missed weight for their planned main card fight.

Sidelined since, the Simpsonville native has now been booked to fight the number six rated, Rakhmonov in December at UFC 296, in a barnburning potential welterweight title eliminator.

Stephen Thompson admits turning down fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov

However, admitting we could have seen a clash between himself and the Uzbekistan native earlier that December, Thompson claimed he rejected a prior fight offer from the UFC to challenger Rakhmonov – due to a lack of perceived name value.

“It was a year and a half ao, maybe, I think, the UFC wanted me to fight Shavkat (Rakhmonov), and to be honest with you, I didn’t know who he was at the time,” Stephen Thompson told MMA Fighting. “I think he’s only had, like, five fights in the UFC. Obviously, I turned it down, I didn’t know who the guy was. And then after that I tuned in and I saw him fight Neil Magny, saw him fight Geoff Neal, and I’m like, ‘Bro, this dude’s legit,’ and now he’s ranked above me.”

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