UFC broadcaster Laura Sanko discloses what made her a fan of Shavkat Rakhmonov: "There's a mystery there"

UFC broadcaster Laura Sanko recently disclosed what made her such a big fan of Shavkat Rakhmonov ahead of his clash against Ian Machado Garry. The unbeaten welterweight contender has surged up the rankings and is looking to solidify a title shot against Belal Muhammad.

'Nomad' was initially scheduled to challenge Muhammad for his welterweight championship in the main event of UFC 310, but 'Remember The Name' was forced to withdraw from the event. Instead of waiting for Muhammad to return, Rakhmonov took a risk by agreeing to fight his former teammate to remain active.

On the latest episode of One On One, Sanko noted that she was impressed by the Kazakh's performances early on in his UFC career and saw his potential. She referenced her famous 'gives me chills' comment and mentioned that she became a big fan of Rakhmonov because of his fighting style as well as his mysterious personality:

"That's why I wanted to make a big deal out of him and be very big in how I spoke about him... And when I said, 'He gave me chills', he does give me chills... There's something very primal about the way that he fights... The way that he operates and then when you couple that with the fact he doesn't talk and he doesn't speak a lick of English, there's a mystery there and it's just really cool." [6:25]

Check out Laura Sanko's comments regarding Shavkat Rakhmonov below:

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Laura Sanko sheds light on a weakness in Shavkat Rakhmonov's skill set

In addition to heaping praise on Shavkat Rakhmonov and disclosing what made her such a big fan of his, Laura Sanko also shed light on an area of weakness in the no. 3-ranked welterweight's skillset.

During the aforementioned episode, Sanko told co-host Din Thomas that Rakhmonov's defensive striking hasn't been his strongest area:

"It's not that [Rakhmonov] is some cyborg that does everything perfectly, far from it. Like, his defense is not always the greatest. He's not the most technical striker that you'll find but he's clearly doing something right, 18-0, every single one of them finishes. But, there have been moments where you're like, 'Oh, he just got clipped'." [8:13]

Check out the UFC's official announcement for Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Machado Garry below: