Shavkat Rakhmonov unsure if he will ever return

The undefeated welterweight admits that a UFC comeback is far from guaranteed after his serious knee injury.

Shavkat Rakhmonov isn't ready to end his UFC career just yet, though he has said that a return is, unfortunately, quite unlikely.

Shavkat Rakhmonov is still undefeated, but has unfortunately been sidelined since his victory over Ian Machado Garry in December 2024. He went into the fight with a knee injury, which had long-term consequences. He himself says it was a clear mistake to step into the cage and risk further injury. He said:

“Well, that’s my problem; I couldn’t fight. If I had fought, I could’ve become champion, but that’s how it turned out. I was injured. What can I do? We are only human. I actually shouldn’t even have fought Ian Garry at all. With injuries like that, I shouldn’t have fought at all; I just took a risk”

He then went into more detail about how the injury worsened during that fight.

“I already had an injury going into the Ian Garry fight. I stepped in; I hadn’t fought for a year; I wanted to fight. That old injury was still bothering me a lot. My leg was swollen. And when he was striking me, it was probably because I completely lacked a ligament. I couldn’t really feel that strike, in general”

He said.

It’s a sad and painful story. Of course, he’s partly to blame, but that shouldn’t matter too much. He seems thoughtful enough to realize that himself. Still, the question naturally arises as to whether he’ll ever make a comeback at all, or if he’s too hurt to do so.