Earlier, UFC President Dana White announced the development of this fight.
“I look at it in such a way that the only one who is ahead of me in the ranking is Usman, and the fight with Shavkat, which Dana is talking about, is a step back,” MMA Talk quotes the American. “I just beat an undefeated prospect and Rakhmonov doesn’t even have a big name, so I’m going to fight Kamaru Usman, or Gilbert Burns if he can beat Jorge Masvidal.”
“Gilbert said a lot of things to me, he was indignant that I was ahead of him in the rankings, and this motivates me. To be honest, none of these fights make sense to me other than a title shot, but if I have to fight one of them, it’s going to be a big name opponent.”
In October last year, Belal Muhammad won his fourth consecutive victory, finishing by TKO in the second round of the previously undefeated Sean Brady.
Shavkat Rakhmonov, representing Kazakhstan, won his fifth stoppage victory in the UFC three weeks ago, finishing in the third round with a choke of Jeff Neal.