A battle between surging welterweights will take place in the first quarter of the new year.
Sources close to the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting that Shavkat Rakhmonov and Carlston Harris will fight at the UFC’s event on Feb. 5, at a location and venue yet to be officially announced. Instagram page Freak MMA was first to report the booking.
Rakhmonov has won all 14 of his professional bouts, including a pair of submission wins to start his octagon tenure over Alex Oliveira and Michel Prazeres. The former M-1 welterweight champion has yet to have multiple fights in a year since signing with the UFC, competing just once in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Harris has also picked up stoppage wins in his first two UFC appearances and will enter the first appearance of 2022 on a five-fight win streak. “Mocambique” submitted Christian Aguilera in his promotional debut at May’s UFC Vegas 26 event, and followed that up with a first-round KO of Impa Kasanganay at UFC Vegas 37 in September.