Shavkat Rakhmonov is back in the conversation. New training footage of the undefeated welterweight contender is making the rounds, and MMA Sucka reported that the high-intensity clip has sparked rumors of a UFC comeback. The footage doesn’t come with a date, an opponent or a booking attached. Fight fans don’t need much, though, and a hard session from one of the most dangerous unbeaten men at 170 pounds was enough to get people talking about a targeted return.
The timing is what makes the clip interesting. A day after it surfaced, UFC 336 lost its planned main event. The promotion had been hoping to put welterweight champion Islam Makhachev against Carlos Prates on top of the January 30 card at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. That fight was targeted and never signed, and now it’s gone.
AG Fight broke the news first, and Ariel Helwani followed with confirmation on X. “Islam Makhachev vs Carlos Prates is no longer the target to headline UFC 336 in Toronto, per sources,” Helwani wrote, adding, “Date doesn’t work for Makhachev anymore. Unclear why.” He also said there was no word yet on a new target.
Where Rakhmonov fits
So the UFC has a pay-per-view in Canada with an empty top slot and a ranked welterweight in Prates who was ready to fight on that date. Heavy, in a piece published by Yahoo Sports, laid out the options. One is keeping Prates on the card against Michael Morales or Rakhmonov, with a No. 1 contender spot or even an interim title on the line. The other is the UFC holding Prates out until Makhachev is available.
The same report listed alternatives that skip the welterweights entirely. Women’s flyweight champion Natalia Silva against Jasmine Jasudavicius would give Toronto a Canadian challenger in a title fight. Middleweight champion Sean Strickland, who has fought in Toronto before, is another name. So is a Strickland rematch with Nassourdine Imavov, though that depends on Imavov sorting out his pay dispute with the UFC in time for January.
None of this means Rakhmonov is booked. No source reports a contract, a date or talks with the promotion. What exists is a training clip and a suddenly open main event, and people are connecting the two.
Quick take
If the UFC wants a welterweight fight with real stakes on January 30, Rakhmonov against Prates is the one I’d make, and I’d put a contender label on it before I’d ever stick an interim belt on a division whose champion just has a scheduling problem. Interim titles handed out because a date fell through are how divisions get messy. Prates is a striker who wants a big name, and Rakhmonov is a finisher who can beat you standing or hunt submissions from bad positions. That’s a fight I’d happily break down frame by frame. But a gym clip is still only a gym clip. Until someone with sources says Rakhmonov is in the mix for Toronto, the January 30 headliner is still blank.
