One of the most renowned coaches in MMA history, Firas Zahabi, expressed astonishment at the newest prospect in the welterweight division (up to 77,1kg). On his YouTube channel, the former coach of legend Georges St-Pierre heaped praise on Kazakhstani prospect Shavkat Rakhmonov , saying he had rarely seen anything like it in the octagon.
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“Guys, I’ve watched countless fights, trained for countless hours, and trained so many phenomenal and talented fighters. This guy is very mysterious. What does he do to these other fighters? 'Wonderboy' ( Stephen Thompson ) is a phenomenal fighter, and he completely dominated him. It was shocking to me. Thompson had never been submitted, and Shakkat went there and submitted him. Shavkat is very special,” said Zahabi.
Firas also outlined a possible scenario for a hypothetical fight against Leon Edwards and pointed out that Shavkat is fully capable of winning the welterweight title.
“Can he (Rakhmonov) beat Leon Edwards ? I can’t say no. I don’t know. I’ll find out like the rest of you. To me, what he does in the octagon is insane. It makes no sense at all. None of it makes sense,” the coach concluded.
Third placed in the welterweight rankings, Shavkat is undefeated in professional MMA with 18 consecutive victories. All of the Kazakh's victories in his career were by knockout or submission.
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