Magomedsharipov entered the UFC as the ACB champion, defeating Mike Santiago and Sheymon Moraes in back-to-back submissions before a thrilling three-round fight with Kyle Bochniak.
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When Zabit Magomedsharipov first entered the UFC in 2017, he swiftly established himself as an MMA fan’s favourite prospect. With submission finishes in his first two fights, he received two Performance of the Night bonuses. Zabit then followed up both victories with a Fight of the Night battle against Kyle Bochniak, and he was considered as a potential future contender. From then, his career took off, culminating in a submission victory with a Suloev Stretch, just the third in UFC history.
In 2019, he finally put himself in championship contention with decision wins over long-time UFC veteran Jeremy Stephens and fellow up-and-comer Calvin Kattar. After his victory over Kattar, he rose to #3 in the UFC Featherweight rankings, but fans haven’t seen him compete since. After nearly three years away from the octagon, Zabit announced his retirement from mixed martial arts to the UFC today.
Zabit Magomedsharipov (18-1) has notified the UFC of his decision to retire from active competition, multiple sources told me. Story coming to @MMAFighting.
— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) June 15, 2022
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For UFC fans who had hoped to see Zabit in fights against fellow contenders like Yair Rodriguez, Chan Sung Jung, and Max Holloway, or even against the division’s champion, Alexander Volkanovski, this is disheartening news. The UFC attempted to make a fight between Zabit and Rodriguez on many occasions in the past, but the deal fell through each time, with the UFC even cutting Rodriguez at one point for declining the fight. Now, UFC fans are left to ponder what could have been for Zabit when he retired from MMA despite never losing a fight in the company and with his sole loss coming 14 bouts before in 2013.
Magomedsharipov entered the UFC as the ACB champion, defeating Mike Santiago and Sheymon Moraes in back-to-back submissions before a thrilling three-round fight with Kyle Bochniak. Magomedsharipov returned to the octagon five months later, tapping Brandon Davis with a kneebar and then winning decisions over Jeremy Stephens and Calvin Kattar in 2019. Magomedsharipov was supposed to fight Yair Rodriguez in August 2020, however the fight was called off due to Rodriguez’s ailment. Magomedsharipov was never scheduled for another competition.
Stephen Thompson declines the quick turnaround fight and wants Usman next.
