Unbeaten Kazakh fighter Shavkaht Rakhmonov believes he is the next rightful challenger at 170-pounds.

Rakhmonov, who is 18-0 in his professional career with a 100% finish rate, has long been heralded as a future title contender in the UFC’s talent-rich welterweight division — and after Belal Muhammad successfully seized the world title from Leon Edwards at the UFC’s event in Manchester several weeks ago, he believes the time has come for his first opportunity at UFC gold.

“UFC thinks I’m the No. 1 contender and that I should be next because there’s no clear contender anyway,” Rakhmonov said via his interpreter during a recent interview with Submission Radio, as noted by MMA Junkie. “I have 100% finishes in the UFC, so I actually should be next. Everyone else is also very close, but I think they need one or a couple of wins to get this title shot, so I should be next.”

Rakhmonov was last seen in the cage last December where he scored a second-round rear-naked choke submission against the former title contender Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.

But despite only entering a third round just twice in his 18 professional fights, Rakhmonov forecasts a difficult challenge against the new champion Muhammad.

“I think it will be a very competitive fight,” he explained. “I don’t think about it as an easy fight. It’s going to be a hard fight and whoever forces their own style on their opponent is going to win. Even though it’s not going to be easy, I believe I’m going to win in the end.”