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Shavkat Rakhmonov scored a second round submission victory over Stephen Thompson during the UFC 296 main card.
The fighter almost didn’t make it to the UFC 296 card, as he suffered a serious ankle injury in the lead up to the fight and Rakhmonov almost withdrew from the bout against Thompson.
“I had a very serious injury and I was even close to pulling out from the fight, but I decided to risk it all,” Rakhmonov said through a translator on the UFC post-fight show (transcript via Shaun Al-Shautti of MMA Fighting). “And that’s why I didn’t kick it with my legs, just used my knees. But thanks God, I got the victory.”
Rakhmonov did make some MMA history at UFC 296, as he became the first fighter to ever submit Thompson in a professional MMA fight.
Whether Rakhmonov is injured or not in future fights, he says that everyone can expect him to do everything he can to pick up the victory in all the fights he is in.
“Hopefully next time, with God’s willing, I’m going to be 100 percent. But it doesn’t matter,” Rakhmonov said. “Whatever injury [I have], you know I’m going to fight to my last blood, until the last sip of blood, because I have to get a win.”
