Shavkat Rakhmonov insists on being ‘the messiah’ for UFC 310. ‘Nomad’, of course, was scheduled to face the reigning champ Belal Muhammad on the December card, but ‘Bully B’ pulled out due to a bone infection on his toe, which has dashed those plans. Since then, the undefeated Kazakh has been calling for an interim title clash against whoever the UFC picks.

Muhammad, however, doesn’t like this idea. The 170-pound top dog has pointed out that since he will be out for only six weeks and so it doesn’t make sense to have a ‘novelty’ champ for that short duration. However, in a recent interview, Rakhmonov addressed these concerns and explained why it makes perfect sense for him to have an interim title bout in December.

“Yeah, I don’t believe its [Belal’s rest due to bone infection] going to be six weeks, to be honest. I believe like Jack Della [Maddalena] had the same problem with infection and he’s still not back. So it can take a while. And Belal doesn’t need to be greedy. If I become an interim champ, he’s still going to have a belt too. And it’s going to be champ vs champ, even bigger fight,” he told Ariel Helwani on the latter’s show.

To be fair, Rakhmonov is right. A clash between Rakhmonov and Muhammad would only get more hyped if the stakes were higher, for example, due to both men holding a belt. On the other hand, it is not certain that Muhammad would also be out for more than six weeks just because Jack Della Maddalena was. As far as injuries (and indeed the medical field in general) go, each case is different and has its own nuances.

While Maddalena did indeed suffer from an infection earlier this year, he was also coming off of surgery. On the other hand, Muhammad is not required to undergo surgery and will be good to go as soon as his infection subsides. But whether or not Rakhmonov fights for the interim 170-pound title is entirely up to the UFC. If indeed Dana White and Co. decide to go in this direction, let us take a look at a few of the names who could be Rakhmonov’s opponents at UFC 310.

Who will stake claim to interim gold against Rakhmonov?

UFC’s lead play-by-play commentator Jon Anik faced fans’ wrath by suggesting ‘Nomad’ could take on the unpopular Ian Garry at UFC 310 for the interim belt. The commentator felt that since the Irishman was undefeated and ranked #7 in the division, he had the best claim to fight for that belt.

There is a lot of merit in his suggestion. But perhaps he was forgetting that there is also #5 ranked Sean Brady, who also has a stellar record, and is ranked higher than Garry in the division. Except for these two men, no other name jumps out of the page. After all, the rest are either injured or coming off losses.

After Brady and Garry, the other possibility may be #9 Joaquin Buckley. While ‘New Mansa’ is riding a five-fight win streak, he does not have a better claim than either of the two aforementioned, higher-ranked 170-pounders. What are your thoughts on Shavkat Rakhmonov’s comments to Ariel Helwani about an interim title clash at UFC 310? Who do you see Rakhmonov fighting at UFC 310? Tell us in the comment section below!