Shavkat Rakhmonov fan army swarms UFC middleweight's career-defining contract announcement

The undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov has taken the MMA world by storm with his rise in the UFC since his promotional debut in 2020. On that note, the 28-year-old Kazakh MMA stalwart has acquired a significant and passionate fan base in the sport as of late.

'Nomad' is scheduled to face former UFC middleweight (185-pound) title challenger Kelvin Gastelum in a welterweight (170-pound) bout next. The Rakhmonov-Gastelum matchup will witness Gastelum move down from the middleweight division and compete at welterweight for the first time since 2016.

Ahead of their highly-anticipated fight, Kelvin Gastelum took to his official Instagram account to post a few photos wherein he's seemingly signing a contract. Gastelum attached a statement alongside the photos, suggesting that he's signed a new lucrative deal with the UFC. The 31-year-old American fighter of Mexican descent added that he's still focused on capturing a UFC world title.

The comments section of Kelvin Gastelum's aforementioned Instagram post was subsequently invaded by several Shavkat Rakhmonov fans. Many Instagram users simply chimed in with "KZ" comments, asserting their support for Kazakhstan's Rakhmonov.

Additionally, the comments section also featured GIFs of Rakhmonov's entrance ahead of his UFC bouts as well as post-fight victory celebrations.

Most comments from Shavkat Rakhmonov's supporters appeared to be in a foreign language. Translations provided by Instagram indicated that the majority of the comments predicted a win for Rakhmonov against Gastelum. One Instagram user jibed at Gastelum by insinuating that Rakhmonov would dominantly defeat him. The user wrote:

"Lol shavkat will mop you"

Other Instagram users claimed that Rakhmonov is the champion and that Gastelum has already lost:

"Consider that you've already lost 😂!!!!! Shavkat is the champion 🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿 🇰🇿 🇰🇿 🇰🇿🇦🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇦🇿🇰🇿"

Some fans referenced Rakhmonov's "Kazakh Style" of fighting and similarly predicted that Gastelum would lose to him:

"You will lose to Shavkat baby 🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿"

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Kelvin Gastelum views himself as a bad stylistic matchup for Shavkat Rakhmonov

The MMA community was recently set ablaze by reports regarding Kelvin Gastelum's return to the welterweight division. Shavkat Rakhmonov, for his part, proposed that he'd like to be Gastelum's first opponent in his welterweight comeback. Gastelum later posted a video to his YouTube channel and claimed that he's willing to fight Rakhmonov.

In the aftermath of the video being published, the UFC officially announced that Kelvin Gastelum would indeed fight Shavkat Rakhmonov in a welterweight bout. Their showdown will take place at the upcoming Mexican Independence Day UFC Fight Night event on September 16th, 2023.

Discussing the stylistic clash against grappling savant Rakhmonov, Gastelum emphasized that he's a horrible matchup for the Kazakh fighter. In his aforesaid YouTube video, Gastelum stated:

"I think stylistically, I'm horrible for him. He comes forward, he's very sloppy sometimes, and I will be able to capitalize on that."