LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 07: (L-R) Shavkat Rakhmonov of Uzbekistan and Ian Machado Garry of Ireland react to the end of the round in a welterweight bout during the UFC 310 event at T-Mobile Arena on December 07, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC) It’s been nearly two years since Shavkat Rakhmonov has fought and the guy is still dealing with endless knee injuries. The Kazakh fighter was a top UFC welterweight contender and even managed to get a title fight booked against then-champ Belal Muhammad. But when Muhammad withdrew from the fight with a foot injury, Rakhmonov stayed on the card to fight Ian Machado Garry. That decision was a huge mistake, because “Nomad” went into the fight with a badly injured knee and only messed it up worse inching out a decision against Garry. Now, 21 months later, Rakhmonov is still wearing a massive knee brace in a new interview with ALF Global where he discussed his choice to fight injured. “We are bound to make plenty of mistakes,” he said. “If you really look at it, I also made a wide variety of mistakes throughout my sports career. I actually shouldn’t have even fought Ian Machado Garry at all. With injuries like that, I shouldn’t have fought at all. I just took a risk.” “That’s the Kazakh way. Kazakhs are very daring. They’re not afraid. If it had been some other Dagestani fighter like Khabib or Islam Makhachev, they definitely would’ve refused.” “I already had an injury going into the Ian Garry fight,” he added. “I stepped up, I hadn’t fought for a year, I wanted to fight. Even before that, I had health problems, too, and it turned out there were only two weeks left before the Ian Garry fight. That old injury was still bothering me a lot. My leg was swollen.” “When he was striking me, it was probably because I completely lacked a ligament. I couldn’t really feel that strike, in general.” It’s tough hearing Shavkat go back and forth between knowing he screwed up fighting with one leg and still pretending it was the daring and superior choice. His knee is completely destroyed now, and he did it so UFC 310 — an event no one thinks about any more — had a semi-decent co-main event. The daring thing to do would have been looking after his own health.