Boasting arguably on essentially the most spectacular and most undoubtedly thrilling successful runs within the UFC at present, Uzbekistan native, Shavkat Rakhmonov is hotly-tipped to proceed in his rich-vein of successful type in opposition to former two-time welterweight title chaser, Stephen Thompson of their December conflict at UFC 296.
Rakhmonov, who at the moment sports activities the quantity six rank within the official welterweight pile, turned in his whopping seventeenth skilled victory – and seventeenth end as well again in March at UFC 285, submitting common-foe, Geoff Neal with a 3rd spherical standing rear-naked choke win.
As for Thompson, the fan-favorite putting veteran shall be sidelined for a 12 months come his December battle with Shavkat Rakhmonov, most not too long ago forcing a fourth spherical nook’s stoppage TKO win over latest Noche UFC function, Kevin Holland at UFC Orlando within the pair’s headliner final December.
Shavkat Rakhmonov opens as betting favourite to beat Stephen Thompson at UFC 296
And amid the rise of Rakhmonov and his veteran standing, quantity seven rated challenger, Thompson is at the moment driving a +320 betting underdog line in opposition to the previous – who has opened as a powerful -410 betting favourite to dispatch Thompson at UFC 296.
Followers and punters alike can discover a host of UFC betting sites to wager on outright winners of clashes in addition to prop bets, forward of what guarantees to be a blockbuster end-of-year schedule for the North American-based group.
Making massive noise since his arrival within the UFC, former M-1 World welterweight kingpin, Rakhmonov made his Octagon bow in opposition to Alex Oliveira – stopping the Brazilian veteran with a primary spherical guillotine choke submission win.
In consecutive victories and finishes since then, the 28-year-old has dispatched names like Neil Magny, and the above-mentioned, Neal – each with submission stoppages, which have gone a good distance in incomes the ending starlet the moniker as a future welterweight champion underneath the promotion’s scrutiny.
Failing in two efforts to dislodge Tyron Woodley as welterweight champion in 2015, and 2016, respectively, Thompson will hunt down one ultimate championship push starting with is end-of-year battle with Shavkat Rakhmonov – snapping a run of losses in opposition to each Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad together with his TKO win over Holland.
Sidelined for a while, Simponsville veteran, Thompson additionally divulged not too long ago that we could have seen a battle between himself and Shavkat Rakhmonov two years in the past, until he candidly rejected a bout agreement from the UFC.
“It was a 12 months and a half ao, perhaps, I feel, the UFC wished me to battle Shavkat (Rakhmonov), and to be sincere with you, I didn’t know who he was on the time,” Stephen Thompson stated. “I feel he’s solely had, like, 5 fights within the UFC. Clearly, I turned it down, I didn’t know who the man was. After which after that I tuned in and I noticed him battle Neil Magny, noticed him battle Geoff Neal, and I’m like, ‘Bro, this dude’s legit,’ and now he’s ranked above me.”
“So anyone’s that’s ranked above me, I informed the UFC I’m down for,” Stephen Thompson defined. “That is the man I feel may presumably be welterweight champ in some unspecified time in the future. He’s that good, undefeated, I feel he has a one hundred pc end price, so what higher man to go on the market and present the world and the UFC that I deserve a title shot by preventing this man.”
