Welterweight contenders Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry will fight in a five-round title eliminator for the co-main event of UFC 310 in Las Vegas on December 7th.
Rakhmonov had originally been scheduled to fight current champion Belal Muhammad in the main event of the show, but that plan fell through when Muhammad suffered a bone infection that forced him to withdraw from the match-up.
The 30-year-old Rakhmonov had certainly proven himself worthy of a title shot as he’s currently unbeaten in his 18-fight career, including six wins in a row since joining the UFC, and has finished all of his fights by either strikes or submission.
Along the way he’s beaten UFC notables like Neil Magny, Geoff Neal and most recently Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, but he’ll now also have to get past Garry before he can fight for the title.
The No.7 ranked Garry had originally been booked to fight Joaquin Buckley at the final event of the year, UFC ON ESPN 63 on December 14th, but will now have to be ready a week earlier.
The 26-year-old Garry is also undefeated in his 15-fight career, which includes eight victories since joining the UFC a few years ago, beating the likes of Daniel Rodriguez, Neil Magny, Geoff Neal and most recently Michael ‘Venom’ Page.
With Rakhmonov vs. Garry now installed as the co-main event that confirms UFC 310 will now be headlined by a flyweight title fight between Alexandre Pantoja and the debuting Kai Asakura, who was previously Rizin’s bantamweight champion.
They will be joined on the main card of UFC 310 by Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov, Vicente Luque vs. Nick Diaz and Movsar Evloev vs Aljamain Sterling.
