Shavkat Rakhmonov

Shavkat Rakhmonov is a professional mixed martial artist and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight. He was born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on April 22, 1991. From a young age he was passionate about combat sports and began training in his hometown at the age of 14. By 18 he had already become one of the most successful amateur freestyle wrestlers from Central Asia and competed for Tajikistan’s national team.

In 2012, Rakhmonov transitioned to MMA when he joined Azerbaijan’s Top Team Gym, where he trained with some of the biggest names in international MMA like Rasul Mirzayev and Magomed Ismailov. After two successful fights as an amateur fighter in 2013-14, Rakhmonov quickly rose through the ranks of professional MMA fighters to sign his first contract with Russia’s FNG promotion after winning five consecutive bouts by knockout or submission between 2014-16.

In 2018, Rakhmoven signed a four-fight deal with UFC and made his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 131 against George Sullivan where he won via technical knockout just 74 seconds into round 1.[3] His performance earned him “Performance of the Night” honors as well as an additional $50k bonus.[4] Over the next two years Shavkat went on to win four more fights inside the octagon including victories over Alex Oliveira,[5] Abubakar Nurmagomedov,[6] Ramazan Emeev[7], and representative performances against high profile opponents like Neil Magny[8], Max Griffin[9], Khaos Williams[10], Sean Brady[11], etc which earned him another “Fight of The Night” honor along with another 50K bonus for his fight against Williams.[12]
Rakhmonov currently holds a record nine wins out 11 total matches inside UFC octagon making him one of their most promising prospects at welterweight division today. He is set to face grappling specialist Takashi Sato this July 2021 at Las Vegas arena during UFC Fight Night 192 event.[13][14]