Shavkat Rakhmonov is hurt again, and the timeline now runs well into next year. Russian MMA outlets are reporting that the welterweight contender has suffered another serious knee setback. Dovy (@DovySimuMMA) relayed the key line on X on Saturday: “Knee cannot withstand strain.” In other words, the knee can’t take the load of a training camp right now. Per those same reports, the best-case return is June 2027.
These are reports from Russian media passed along on X. Nothing in what’s surfaced so far includes a statement from Rakhmonov, his team or the UFC. They do describe this as a repeat problem, which is the part that should worry anyone who has watched him work.
Where this leaves him
The last Rakhmonov result in the reporting is his submission of Stephen Thompson at UFC 296 in December 2023. That loss started a three-fight skid for Thompson, who retires after facing Charles Radtke at UFC 334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden. So one of the names on Rakhmonov’s resume walks away next week while Rakhmonov himself can’t get through a practice.
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There’s also a near-miss from 2024 worth remembering. Lucas Lutkus, Carlos Prates’ manager, told MMA Fighting this week that Prates was ready to step in against Rakhmonov on short notice that year while wearing a walking boot on a broken foot. The UFC doctor refused to clear him two weeks out. Lutkus said Hunter Campbell told the team on a call, “But you guys are crazy for wanting to fight with your foot in that condition.”
That same Prates is now the guy fighting for a belt. Islam Makhachev holds the welterweight title after defending it against Ian Machado Garry in Philadelphia. He’d said he wanted to fight before Ramadan, which begins Feb. 7, and then told the UFC he wouldn’t be ready for January. So Prates, fresh off knocking out Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC Perth in May, gets Michael Morales for the interim title in the co-main of UFC 336 on Jan. 30 in Toronto. Morales is 19-0, 7-0 inside the Octagon, and his most recent win was a first-round knockout of Sean Brady. Makhachev said last weekend that Prates and Morales should fight each other to decide who has really earned the next shot at him.
The division has plenty of contenders lined up, and Rakhmonov isn’t among them for now.
Quick take
A knee that can’t hold up in camp is the worst kind of injury news, because nobody can rush it. If June 2027 is the best case, I’d rather Rakhmonov take every week of it than come back at 80 percent against a Prates or a Morales, two guys who will punish anything less than a whole fighter. By the time he’s healthy, the interim belt will have an owner and Makhachev’s plans will finally have a date attached. That clarity starts Jan. 30 in Toronto, with Rakhmonov nowhere near that cage.
