Four days before his fight against Ian Garry at UFC 310 , Shakat Rakhmonov added fuel to the fire behind the scenes. The Kazakh fighter claimed that the video released by his rival, showing them sparring at a gym last year, is incomplete. In an interview with journalist Ariel Helwani, Rakhmonov stated that he submitted Garry that day and accused the Irish fighter of hiding that part of the video.
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Rakhmonov was supposed to challenge Belal Muhammad at UFC 310 for the welterweight title (up to 77kg), but due to an injury, the current champion was unable to attend his first title defense. Chosen hastily as Belal's replacement, Garry is already a long-time acquaintance of Rakhmonov and they even trained together. The Irishman released a video of that training session, but according to the Kazakh, his rival was selective in choosing the footage. (see video below)
“At the time, even though his wife asked me if she could film the footage of the two of us fighting, I agreed. But they didn’t ask me if they could release it or not. I wonder why they didn’t release the other part of the sparring. Ian Garry taps out. It was a submission, a chokehold,” Rakhmonov told the journalist.
But just because he's already 'beaten' Garry in training doesn't mean Rakhmonov believes this fight will be easy. And with so much at stake, he says he's fully focused.
“The most important thing for me is the victory. Sparring is sparring, fighting is different. Ian Garry is a very tough opponent, a good strategist, who comes in with a good game plan. So, for me, it doesn't matter, submission or stoppage. For me, the most important thing is to win,” he concluded.
UFC 310 takes place this Saturday (7) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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