Shavkat Rakhmonov has confirmed rumours that he submitted Ian Machado Garry during their past sparring sessions, ahead of their fight at UFC 310.
On Saturday (7 December), the unbeaten welterweights will clash for a shot at champion Belal Muhammad, squaring off in the co-main event at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena.
Rakhmonov was in fact due to challenge Muhammad at UFC 310, but Machado Garry stepped in when the champion withdrew due to a bone infection.
Earlier this year, Rakhmonov hinted that he got the better of Machado Garry in their sparring rounds, tweeting: “Looks like Ian forgot what happened during those training sessions. I don’t mind reminding him in the future.” Then, in November, an alleged teammate claimed the Kazakh submitted the Irishman twice.
Now, Rakhmonov has made the same claim.
“At the time, his wife asked me if she can film the footage of the sparring, and I accepted it,” the 30-year-old told Uncrowned on Tuesday.
“But they didn’t ask me if they can release it or not, and I wonder why they didn’t release the other part of this sparring.”
Rakhmonov, who said he sparred with Machado Garry three or four times, was then asked what happened in the rest of the footage.
“Ian Garry taps,” Rakhmonov replied. “It was a submission. A choke.”
Machado Garry, 27, also discussed the sparring rounds with Uncrowned this week, saying on Monday: “Training is training. What are we doing in training? We’re trying to evolve and grow. We’re trying to be better. We’re trying to do things that put ourselves in scenarios where we need to learn.
“So, if Shavkat believes that the training we had in the past is going to be the same [as] Saturday night, when he steps into the Octagon with me, then Shavkat... I’m speaking to you directly: You’re going to be severely mistaken. And if I was you, I would change that mentality very quickly.”
Rakhmonov is 18-0 with 18 stoppage wins, while Machado Garry is 15-0 with eight stoppages.
Last time out, Machado Garry beat Michael “Venom” Page via decision in June. In his previous fight, he outpointed Geoff Neal in February.
Meanwhile, Rakhmonov submitted Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson 12 months ago, after submitting Neal last March.
