According to Shavkat Rakhmonov, he’s already gotten the best of Ian Machado Garry.
Rakhmonov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) takes on former teammate Machado Garry (15-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in a five-round welterweight bout on Saturday in the UFC 310 co-main event (pay-per-view, ESPN2, ESPN+) from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In 2023, Machado Garry posted footage of him sparring Rakhmonov at Kill Cliff FC. Rakhmonov said the pair sparred about three or four times during the Irishman’s time there and revealed that the footage does not paint the entire picture of what happened.
“At the time, his wife asked me if she can film the footage of us sparring, and I accepted it,” Rakhmonov said on “The Ariel Helwani Show” through an interpreter. “But they didn’t ask me if they can release it or not. I wonder why they didn’t release the other part of the sparring.”
So what really happened during their sparring session?
“Ian Garry taps,” Rakhmonov said. “It was a submission, choke.”
However, Rakhmonov is not focused on what happened in their past training sessions. The big betting favorite is aware that Machado Garry has also continued to find ways to get his hand raised and doesn’t necessarily expect the same outcome from their sparring.
“The most important for me is the win,” Rakhmonov said. “Sparring is sparring. The fight is different. Ian Garry is a very tough opponent who is a good tactician, who comes in with a good game plan. So for me, it doesn’t matter submission or the stoppage. For me, what’s most important is to win.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Shavkat Rakhmonov says he made Ian Machado Garry tap in sparring
