Rakhmonov Replaces Muhammad, Beats Garry at UFC 310
Belal Muhammad withdrew from his scheduled welterweight title defense against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 after contracting a bone infection in his foot. Rakhmonov remained on the December 7, 2024 card and fought Ian Machado Garry in a five-round, non-title bout.
What happened at UFC 310
Rakhmonov defeated Garry by unanimous decision, 48-47 on all three scorecards. UFC 310 did not feature an interim welterweight title bout: the replacement fight was a regular welterweight contest. The event was headlined by Alexandre Pantoja’s flyweight title defense against Kai Asakura, which Pantoja won by second-round submission.
The promotion kept the welterweight contenders active without introducing an interim championship. Muhammad remained the division’s titleholder while the replacement contest determined a winner between two unbeaten challengers.
Sources: UFC, UFC 310: The Bigger Picture; official UFC 310 scorecards; UFC 310 results.
A five-round test without an interim belt
The distinction between bout length and championship status matters here. Rakhmonov and Garry were scheduled for five rounds, but that length alone did not make the contest a title fight. The official billing and result identified it as a non-title co-main event.
Rakhmonov entered with eighteen victories, all by finish. Garry became the first opponent to take him to a decision, even threatening a rear-naked choke in the fifth round before Rakhmonov escaped and recovered top position. The result moved Rakhmonov to 19–0 while ending Garry’s unbeaten professional record.
Garry had shifted from a planned December 14 meeting with Joaquin Buckley to take the UFC 310 assignment, as the promotion’s fight-week profile explains. The reshuffle preserved an important welterweight matchup on the December card, although the championship originally scheduled for the event was no longer being contested.
