Preston’s Paradox Episode One: How UFC tried to set up Shavkat Rakhmonov
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I highly doubt it. I think many thought that he had a much easier path to victory via his grappling. If they did want him to lose, they grossly miscalculated his toughness as Neil can crack, and did crack him, only to receive a bloody smile in return. Shavkat is definitely a contender.
This makes absolutely zero sense.
Magny beat Neil and we all saw what Shavkat did to Magny. The matchup was a good one and Shavkat purposely stood with him Neil to make a point.
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No one watches your videos
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Sonnen Pitches Unranked Prospect As Rakhmonov’s Next Foe
During a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sonnen assessed the next step for Rakhmonov on MMA’s biggest stage and addressed the common calls for the Kazakh national to share the Octagon with “Chaos.”
After admitting that matchmaking is the one combat sports role he wouldn’t feel comfortable in, Sonnen questioned calls for Rakhmonov vs. Covington, providing a case against a matchup widely viewed as intriguing.
“I feel as though you could call me, and I could tag in to any department within the sport… except for matchmaking. It’s hard. I don’t get it. I don’t fully understand it,” Sonnen said. “There’s talk right now of Rakhmonov versus Colby. Do you agree with it? Because I don’t… It doesn’t feel right.
“Putting Rakhmonov against Colby, for what? … Are we making it perfectly clear that (Khamzat) Chimaev is no longer in the weight class? That hasn’t been made clear. But we, the community, do agree that whatever Chimaev does next is a number one contender’s match… I only bring that up, because you’re talking about putting Rakhmonov versus Covington, which would have to be a number one contender’s match… Why else would Rakhmonov fight Colby?”
With that in mind, Sonnen plucked out a new name — one that the comments section seemingly took as some evidence for Sonnen’s matchmaking admission…
“Ian Garry. In my opinion, it should be Ian Garry versus Rakhmonov,” Sonnen stated. “I don’t love the idea of ‘bringing someone along.’ … ‘I am going to build him. I’m going to bring him along.’ … Like who? You’re gonna build him like you did who?
“You have these guys that are doing a great job, they’re undefeated, but we’re gonna save them, we’re gonna put them on the side. ‘I’ve got Rakhmonov and I’ve got Ian Garry here. The whole audience wants to see Ian Garry fight Rakhmonov. I’m gonna put them on the same card, but I’m not gonna have them fight each other.’ I just sit back and go, why?” Sonnen added.
Like Rakhmonov, Garry emerged victorious this past weekend at UFC 285. But while the Kazakh contender had his hand raised on the main card, just one fight before the pair of title fights that topped the bill, the Irishman closed out the early prelims.
In another similarity, though, “The Future” extended his unblemished professional record with a third-round finish, stopping opponent Kenan Song with strikes.
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Neil stuffed 100% of his takedowns and did better than anyone expected, just admit it.
I expected Neil to be competitive. He’s a great fighter. Did you actually watch the fight?
It was pretty clear Shavkat’s plan wasn’t to take the fight to the ground.
Neal is a very good fighter. He is inconsistent but when he is on he is very good, maybe one step bellow elite. What he did to Lique is a good example of this. He does fight shitty sometimes to though so he earned his lack of respect.
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Horrible idea, let Ian grow