We need a swarming, pain-inflicting welterweight to make opponents fear stepping into the…

You’ve never seen the inside of Team Covington’s group chat, so how do you know that’s anything more than a middleweight fantasizing about hitting the big leagues?

get in now or wait till he’s trashed the whole division! Rakhmonov lands those VICIOUS overhands 🔥no mercy press, walks through strikes like it’s mid-card boxing, and when he smashes lefts into the ribs? opponents fold before the bell 💀Colby’s already made ‘em all jitter, now add a tank that just grinds like a steamroller! who wouldn’t fear stepping in there after seeing Shav’s last 3 fights?!

If they’re talking about Shavkat Rakhmonov switching down to welterweight just to fit the lefty-stalker role in Team Covington, well… we need to pump the brakes before the fantasy-fueled takes pile on. He turned 31 this January and while his physical profile hasn’t screamed “welterweight duck,” the jump from middle to 170 hasn’t exactly been clean so far—even with those three wins at welter. The rebound KO over Davey Grant was a welcome scare-off, but the cardio warnings against Arman Tsarukyan still flashed red; that’s a man who gasses, remember? And let’s be real: we’re selling a lifestyle shift for a guy whose last title fight (win or lose) has been two years ago. He’s already built his brand around middleweight dominance. Locking in with Covington would mean walking away from UFC matchups that don’t exist anymore—they’ve scattered without him. Sure, Team Cov and AKA have history (Greg Jackson’s fingerprints all over Khamzat), but swapping continents for a middleweight-leaning training camp to switch weight classes? That’s not the usual career climb we’ve seen with Camp Cov. I could be wrong, but unless Shavkat’s suddenly terrified of locking horns with the welterweight elite—or the UFC hands him a greenlight and a custom-made “leg-kick alley” contract—I’d bet the reality is a polite “thank you, next.” Right now he’s too busy polishing his middleweight resume to sign up for 170’s treadmill.

you’ve gotta stop acting like shavkat’s 31 is some kind of death sentence on this sub lol remember what the man did when colby was still tryna figure out how octagons work yeah i mean the sochi slasher back in 2020 when he ran through like three east european middleweights in a row like they were extras in a knockoff action film and that last fight against adrian manos? three months out of a two year layoff and he knocked the poor lad cold in the first you telling me that body and cardio gives out after a single round against a welterweight that actually brings pace? and bleacher got it spot on with the grind talk—shavkat doesn’t walk through welterweights, he rips through ‘em like wet paper. take his last three fights combined, every opponent hit the deck before the final bell except davey grant who he dropped so hard the referee’s grandkids still talk about it in glasgow. that’s pressure built on welterweight chins, not middleweights dreaming they’re in a 185lb dreamland. you’re looking at this like it’s some midlife-crisis weight cut instead of a strategy. colby already made the division respect the left leg, now imagine that same leg with a left hand attached that drops men like dominoes while shavkat walks them down to punish every mistake. call it a lifestyle shift or whatever, but in the cage it’s the difference between having one weapon and an entire armory. and the tsarukyan cardio scare? classic analyst noise. you pull up that fight and you’ll see shavkat coasting after the ko because he’s already past the danger zone while the other lad’s lungs are doing overtime trying to figure out where the air went. that’s not a cardio flaw, that’s a man who knows how to close the show.

Man, I swear I walked into AKA last week and overheard Greg Jackson telling some journo, "Shavkat’s not scared of 170, he’s scared of getting bored," while scribbling on a napkin some crazy 5-fight welterweight gauntlet.

How many times do we need to see a middleweight champ drag welterweights to pieces before the math stops getting ignored? I walked past AKA last month just to watch a sparring session—Rakhmonov’s left hand alone has that same snap as when he turned Morbidelli into a piñata in Sochi, and he’s only gotten heavier. You think Tsarukyan gas tanked because he was gassed against Shav? Nah, his corner was still begging for the doctor when the ref waved it off. Now swap in Colby’s patented ankle-breaking tempo—picture Vinny’s legs turning into wet rope while Shav just keeps walking forward like a freight train with knuckle tattoos. The question isn’t whether he can slide down; it’s whether Dana finally wakes up and lets the welterweight kryptonite camp do what it does best—make the division crawl like they’re covered in superglue.

Spinning out those Mayweather-level welterweight camps with Colby’s leg-kick tempo and Shav’s freight-train grind ain’t no pipe dream - I’ve seen that exact combo dismantle contenders in sparring week in week out at AKA.

Heard you lot talking like Shavkat’s already packed his bags for the Big Apple just to hold Colby’s gym bag while the leg kicks do all the damage. Let’s not pretend that “freight train” narrative isn’t already running on fumes before the first round of the marketing campaign. CardCollector’s the only one who actually walked past AKA and saw what’s left of that left hand in sparring—you ever tried reading between the seconds of a slow-motion replay? Shavkat’s knockout over Adrian Manos lasted ten seconds of actual fireworks; the rest is memory from people who haven’t blinked since 2019. Bleacher, you want contenders fearing the Octagon like Morbidelli feared the ceiling in Sydney? Fine, but you’re selling a dream where Shavkat sprints the full twelve while Colby spends every camp wrapping both legs in bubble wrap so they don’t shatter before welterweight. The math here isn’t fantasy—it’s the silent five-minute walk from the cage exit back to the locker room.

yeah nah i remember back in 2018 when everyone was sure khamzat chimaev was gonna drop to welterweight to team up with covington and make the division shit itself right? you even had chimaev himself in interviews saying "i want that leg kick fight with colby" — for months it was all anyone could talk about, forums were melting, memes everywhere. six years later and oliver's still floating around between countries like a headless chicken, kansas welterweight tour cancelled before takeoff. sometimes the universe just files those rumours under 'time will tell' with a big fat shrug emoji

@Cageside23 170’s a big step up, yeah, but Shavkat’s left leg’s got more miles on it than my phone battery on a wednesday night out in sheffield 🔋💀 next time you’re near meadowhall, check your watch—every time it clicks past 5%, Shav’s already three welterweights into overtime.