Sora Rakhmonova wants to follow her brother Shavkat Rakhmonov into the UFC, hoping to make a name for herself in the world’s most popular MMA promotion. Rakhmonova made headlines earlier this year with her spectacular second-round victory over Valyria Karygina.
Sora used the in-Octagon post-fight interview to call for a shot at a UFC contract. This apparently worked, and she was booked to face Ernesta Kareckaite in a flyweight bout on Dana White’s Contender Series in September earlier this year but pulled out due to undisclosed reasons. Let us take a look at everything we know about her MMA career.
All we know about Sora Rakhmonova’s MMA career
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Sora Rakhmonova hails from Kazakhstan and is undefeated UFC welterweight Shavkat Rakhmonov’s younger sister. The 25-year-old is still a novice with only five fights in the Kazak MMA promotion Naiza FC. She won 4 and lost one of these via a unanimous decision in her second pro-MMA bout.
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She is ranked #8 pound-for-pound in Kazakhstan and Asia Central and earned her blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu last week. Given her brother’s popularity, there was some buzz around her DWCS fixture against Kareckaite, who was undefeated in her five fights. A respectable performance there would have most likely meant a UFC contract.
However, she pulled less than a week before the bout due to unknown reasons. When she will fight next or where is also currently unknown. Meanwhile, her undefeated brother will face world-class striker Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in a bout that has title shot implications.
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Shavkat Rakhmonov to face ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson at UFC 296
#5 ranked Shavkat Rakhmonov will face #6 ranked Stephen Thompson in the T-Mobile Arena at UFC 296 on December 16. The winner of this bout will find himself one step closer to a welterweight title shot. But even with former champion Kamaru Usman having tentatively moved up to middleweight after consecutive losses to Leon Edwards, a title shot still seems a long way off.
Read More: Leon Edwards Should Not Go for UFC MW Title Just Yet After Colby Covington Fight at UFC 296
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Colby Covington will challenge Edwards for the title in the main event of UFC 296. After which, the UFC really has no choice but to give a title shot to #2-ranked Belal Muhammad, who has won ten of his last eleven fights, with one being a draw. Edwards has also spoken about wanting to become the first British consecutive two-division champion. The welterweight champion is eyeing the winner of the Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis middleweight title bout.
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