Someone’s ‘O’ gotta go in the UFC 310 co-main event. After all, Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Garry, both undefeated, will enter the octagon at the UFC’s last PPV event for the year. The winner will not only continue their undefeated run but also get a shot at welterweight champ Belal Muhammad next.

But many feel that Rakhmonov-Garry is a mismatch. Most expect ‘Nomad’, who has finished every opponent put in front of him, to beat the Irishman. This includes former UFC superstar and analyst Chael Sonnen. ‘Uncle Chael’ thinks that Garry’s undefeated record is essentially padded. Why? Well, let’s find out from the horse’s own mouth.

“Like I’m trying to put myself in Ian Garry’s shoes. Ian Garry is younger and is very successful. And just how good is he? Like before you answer that, it does largely come to matchups. As impressive as Garry has been, for example, he has never taken on a top grappler. As impressive as he’s been, he’s never taken on a top wrestler,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel.

However, the UFC legend understood why Garry was so loud and insistent that he would beat Rakhmonov. Sonnen, of course, was perhaps the best self-promoter this sport has ever seen except, perhaps, for Conor McGregor. So he is sympathetic to Garry talking himself up, even if, according to Sonnen, even the Irishman doesn’t think he could win.

“Your matchups just play out the way that they play out. But I could not be in front of a camera and not tell the camera that I was the best, I could beat anybody, anybody they got in contract… like I would have understood the importance of promotion,” he added. Sonnen’s comments, of course, raise one very important question- does Ian Garry have to chance against Rakhmonov?

How do Ian Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov match up against each other?

Ian Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov do not have much of an edge against the other as far as their size is concerned. While ‘The Future’ is two inches taller than the 6’1″ Rakhmonov, and has a three-inch reach advantage, there isn’t much separating the two in that department. Except perhaps that the Kazakh is stronger than Garry, or at least that is what the eye test tells us.

Their striking statistics, too, are pretty similar. Garry, of course, would like to keep the fight on the feet since he doesn’t have much of a ground game, while Rakhmonov would like to test him on the ground, where he has a chance of mauling the Irishman. But the first challenge would be getting Garry there, and ‘The Future’ has a knack for not being in positions to get taken down easily.

In fact, Garry is pretty much a resident of the Floyd Mayweather school of fighting- stick and move, hit, and don’t get hit. Purely stylistically, he may have the edge on the feet, since he could well frustrate Rakhmonov and his heavy-pressure style of fighting by making him hit nothing but the air. This implies that there are very real and visible paths for Garry to win.

But since fighting often comes down to the intangibles, it may be that the fight comes down to who has a stronger character. While most give Rakhmonov the edge there, the truth is that Garry has never really been in deep waters in his fighting career so far. Which means that he may or may not be mentally strong enough to beat the undefeated Kazakh. Well, there’s only one way to find out. But those, like Sonnen, who are writing the Irishman off completely are going a bit too far. What do you think about Chael Sonnen’s take on the Rakhmonov-Garry clash?