Analysis: Shavkat Rakhmonov dominated Garry in grappling and mid-range striking

A detailed breakdown of Shavkat Rakhmonov's fight with Ian Garry highlights several impressive aspects of the Kazakh fighter's performance. Rakhmonov showed significant improvement at mid-range compared to his bout against Neal, regularly landing strong single strikes including jabs, overhand rights, left hooks, and spinning backfists. He dominated the clinch in the first four rounds, taking Garry's back and controlling him in deep underhooks. Rakhmonov became the only UFC fighter to successfully take Garry down in the center of the cage, accomplishing this twice and mounting significant ground strikes. The analyst scored the middle and close-range exchanges heavily in Rakhmonov's favor (15.75-10.25 mid-range, 18.5-11.7 close range), though Garry dominated long range with leg kicks (19.5-1.75). The one concern noted was Rakhmonov's low activity at long range and minimal leg kick output, which allowed Garry to score points. Despite the overall score being close (approximately 40-40 in total points), the analyst awarded the fight to Rakhmonov based on more significant strikes to the head and better overall fight control.