doesn't count from winning but he realizes that his path to victory is much narrower than his opponent's .
The fight, which came together on short notice and was set to serve as the co-main event of the final UFC pay-per-view tournament in 2024, is expected to crown a new contender for the No. 1 welterweight contendership, with the winner expected to face the champion Once he recovered from a foot infection, he had to wait until next year to defend his title. Both fighters have similar undefeated records, but Bisping believes the odds are definitely in Rakhmonov's favor, especially if he can dictate where the fight takes place.
“I’ve said this before, you have to have a lot of respect for Ian Garry,” Bisping said in his commentary . “He didn't have to take this fight, but can he avoid defeat? Apparently I'm just talking about takedowns here. Shavkat Rakhmonov is very big for the division, as is Ian Garry. They are both 1.90 meters tall and both good strikers.
“Ian Garry will probably dance around the octagon and use exactly the same game plan that he did against him . He has to keep Shavkat Rakhmonov away from him. If he can't stop the mining, he'll be finished. This is no disrespect to Ian Garry.”
Of course, Bisping acknowledges that Garry has a strategy that could potentially work against anyone in the division, but it's a dangerous game to play with someone like Rakhmonov.
During his undefeated run through the UFC with six straight wins, Rakhmonov has defeated every single opponent, with five of those fights ending in submission. Bisping believes that if Rakhmonov can use the same tactics against Garry, he will likely leave UFC 310 a winner and have a shot at the title in 2025.
“[Ian Garry] might be able to dance around, use reach, use reach, use movement, be quick, be evasive, be nice and snappy, be light on your feet and be dedicated enough to not get in to get into a fight,” Bisping said. “If he does that, Shavkat will catch him. If he catches him, he'll get it [Ian Garry] down. If he takes him down, the light will go out.
“Look at Shavkat’s last fight [against] Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. A man who has spent his entire life preventing takedowns. But what did Shavkat do? He fought his way into a clinch and then slowly but surely and methodically worked his way down. So the story in this fight is simple: Can Ian Garry stop the takedown? Because if he can't, someone's 'O' will disappear, and that will probably be Ian Garry's.”
If Garry wants to avoid that fate, Bisping suggests that he might want to deliver a performance that won't wow the audience too much, but will give him a much better chance of emerging victorious.
If Garry loses, having a Fight of the Night won't matter much, so Bisping advises him to stick to a basic game plan and not deviate from it just because a raucous crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is watching him could find out about it.
“[Ian Garry] The way to win is to use the reach, stay and move,” Bipsing said. “The crowd will boo, but who cares about the crowd? The only thing that matters is winning.”