Renowned coach Firas Zahavi believes Shavkat Rakhmonov will not lose his perfect record against fellow undefeated rival Ian Garry.
Rachmonov and Gary are scheduled to trade leather at UFC 310 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This fight will see one of the undefeated welterweights lose his perfect record. And Zahavi doesn’t think it will be Rachmonov, at least for now.
Zahavi has long admired Rakhmonov and admits the Kazakh is an enigmatic figure. Zahavi recently praised Rakhmonov’s toughness once again, which he believes will be too much for Garry. Coach Zahavi feels that coach Rachmonov’s defense is lacking, but believes that the Nomads will make up for it with their grit.
“I think Shafkat will win.” [Ian Garry]. It’s obvious when you watch his games,” the TriStar Gym coach said on YouTube. “He has relentless pressure and the guy is an animal. He doesn’t have the best defense but when he gets hit he moves forward. Yes, I’ve seen him get dropped too He stands up and walks forward like a zombie. He is incredibly sturdy. And he’s resilient. His defense is good now. He gets hit, he gets tagged, he gets pushed down, he bounces back. I think the relentless pressure of [Garry]”
But Zahavi also believes Rakhmonov’s defensive deficiencies will one day cost him his unbeaten record.
“He takes it, dude. He’s very tough. He can get hit…he doesn’t have the best defense,” Zahavi said. “One day we’ll catch up to him. One day we might see Shafqat get stopped, get seriously injured or lose a fight. But I don’t think this is it. I just don’t think it’s Ian Garry.”
Rakhmonov has finished all 18 of his career wins to date, including six fights in the UFC. Gary, on the other hand, has won three of eight total in the UFC and has had a total of eight stoppages in his 15 wins.
