UFC 310 just got interesting as Kamaru Usman revealed he is ready to jump at the chance to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on short notice. ‘Nomad’ was set to face welterweight champion Belal Muhammad for the title. However, with ‘Bully B’ withdrawing from the bout because of a bone infection, the UFC is scrambling for a new opponent. It would have been interesting to see how Muhammad would have squared up against the Kazakh phenom. However, with ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ offering to replace Muhammad, the possible matchup between Usman and Rakhmonov doesn’t seem like a bad export for fans at this point.

Despite coming from different continents, Usman and Rakhmonov share one thing in common. In the US, the Kazakh fighter trains at KillCliff MMA (formerly Sanford MMA), headed by Henri Hooft and Greg Jones. The gym had long been Kamaru Usman’s home before he shifted camps to Trevor Whitman in Colorado for UFC 251. Despite this commonality, Usman iterated the fact that their sharing gyms does not make them teammates.

Kamaru Usman sets the record straight about Shavkat Rakhmonov being his teammate

While the main event of UFC 310 is still in limbo, Rakhmonov has had a slew of opponents at 170 lbs who wanted to challenge him; Ian Garry, Colby Covington, and  the aforementioned Kamaru Usman. On ‘The Ariel Helwani Show’, Rakhmonov particularly expressed an interest in fighting Kamaru Usman for an interim title.

With Usman showing equal interest in fighting ‘Nomad’, the former welterweight champ went on record to clarify one thing on the ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast with Henry Cejudo – “First of all, Henry let me clarify something we are not teammates he comes in and trains in my gym where I was for most of my career – till the last 4 or 5 years – which I am still in that gym, you know that’s ‘H Kickboxing’, Henry’s gym, ‘Kill Cliff Now’ is the name but he is not my teammate per se.”

While Usman made it clear that Rakhmonov was not his teammate, Usman did end up fighting someone he closely trained with. At UFC 258, Usman had already shifted camps from Henri Hooft to Trevor Whitman, and his opponent was Gilbert Burns. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ and ‘Durinho’ elevated each other as long as they trained together and didn’t fight. However, with the welterweight title on the line, both fighters had to put their friendship aside to compete. Kamaru Usman won that fight via TKO in the third round, leading to an emotional Burns breaking down, and Usman having to console him.

However, Kamaru Usman doesn’t have to hold back with Shavkat Rakhmonov. The Kazakh fighter brings a new opportunity for the Nigerian ex-champ to trace his way back to the title. The champ expressed that he is in training camp, and will be fight-ready should the UFC call upon him for UFC 310.

Kamaru Usman is ready to take on Shavkat Rakhmonov

In the conversation with Henry Cejudo, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ promised to take the fight against Rakhmonov if the UFC decided to offer it to him – “If the UFC is going to call who they think is going to be legit tough enough, and mad enough to step in there [against Rakhmonov at UFC 310] – or is crazy enough to step in there on short notice and go out there and possibly shock the world – the UFC knows who to call.”

He declared that if this situation arose, he wasn’t going to let the opportunity slide. With the Rakhmonov fight, he has the chance to repeat history when he took a fight on 10 days’ notice against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294. However, he is not the only one who can fill Muhammad’s shoes for this fight. The other two prospective fighters who threw their names into the mix are Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley.

The duo is ranked in the top 10 of the welterweight division and Garry has is undefeated in 15 fights. On the other hand, Buckley recently KO-ed former title challenger Stephen Wonderboy Thompson at UFC 307. However, neither fighter will serve as a replacement for Belal Muhammad as both have been booked against each other for the UFC Tampa main event in December.

Do you think the UFC will grant an interim title opportunity for Shavkat Rakhmonov and Kamaru Usman? If so, who wins that bout? Let us know in the comments below.