Saidyokub Kakhramonov: ‘Weight Is Never Going to Be an Issue’

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In August, Saidyokub Kakhramonov made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut on short notice at UFC on ESPN 29. That night, Kakhramonov (9-2, 1-0 UFC) rendered Trevin Jones unconscious with a vicious guillotine that ended their contest at the 4:39 mark of Round 3. Still, the former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder's debut was marked by the fact that he hit the scales 2.5 pounds over the bantamweight division's limit. It was the first time that the Team Oyama representative had missed weight in his professional career.

While talking with Sherdog, Kakhramonov explained that he was on the other side of the world when he received the call. After flying from Uzbekistan to the United States, he had very little time to complete the weight cut, and his body didn't seem to respond as usual. However, Kakhramonov believes weight won't be an issue for his next scheduled fight with Brian Kelleher at UFC Fight Night 200.

“I’ve never missed weight before,” he said. “I had a lot of fights, I never missed weight. I made 135 [pounds], not even 136 or 135.5, I can make 135 easy. It's a good excuse, but I just didn't have enough time. If I had maybe a day more because I had only two days to cut. I got to Vegas Tuesday night, so I had time only Wednesday and Thursday to make the weight. It was just hard, I did what I could do. I'm past that. Weight is never going to be an issue and it has never been. I've been doing this since I've been 9 years old.”

Kakhramonov also detailed his fight with Jones, explained that he was thinking about alternatives to mixed martial arts before making his UFC debut, explained what he expects from Kelleher and more.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(01:32) Taking a short-notice fight against Jones
(03:18) Taking into consideration other things beyond MMA
(04:10) His thoughts on the Jones fight
(05:25) "Resting" in Round 2
(07:12) Finishing Jones
(08:54) His family's reaction to his victory
(10:16) Kelleher's flaws
(11:07) Missing weight ahead of the clash with Jones
(12:58) His goals for 2022
(13:33) Picking Giga Chikadze vs. Calvin Kattar

(14:40) Outro

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and now he covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.