Former UFC featherweight contender Zabit Magomedsharipov explained why he abruptly retired from MMA in 2022 at the young age of 31.
Magomedsharipov was one of the best featherweights in the sport before he stepped away in the prime of his career. He held an 18-1 MMA record, including an undefeated 6-0 mark in the UFC with four bonus awards. Many fans and media felt that he would eventually be the UFC featherweight champion of the world — then he walked away from it all.
Zabit Magomedsharipov Reveals Reason for Retiring From MMA
Speaking to AC BJJ, Magomedsharipov revealed the reason he walked away from the UFC in the prime of his career. The Russian reasoned that he was frustrated by the UFC matchmakers after several bookings against Yair Rodriguez fell apart, and his frustration about not getting fights was one of the main reasons that he decided to walk away for good.
“There were a lot of reasons, so many reasons. (UFC) just couldn’t make the (Rodriguez) fight happen. I wanted to fight, but like three or four times, they’d postpone fights and we couldn’t make a deal. But all these times, I was making weight, going through camps, flying out to America. And by the time you get there, you’ve already been through so much – weight cut, training camp and everything. Then you arrive, and two or three weeks before the fight, they tell you, ‘That’s it, he’s injured,’ and they postpone again. I’d go back home again, and start getting ready all over again. Imagine that about five times. I got tired of it. Like, how much can you take?” Magomedsharipov said (via MMAjunkie.com).
“We had some agreements with them: If he pulls out of the fight a third time, they’d automatically give me the title fight. That’s what we talked about. And the third time, he found excuses. He came up with a lot of reasons. Then they started offering me somebody else, first (Chan Sung Jung), then some other guy. But really at that time, it was just me and Rodriguez. The two of us were contenders, and they just didn’t want to make me a champion. I know why, too. At that time, we already had a lot of champions from Russia. Khabib (Nurmagomedov) was the champion then and (Petr) Yan, and because of that, it wasn’t beneficial for them that a third champion would be from Russia.”
What’s Zabit Magomedsharipov Up To Now?
There haven’t been many updates from Magomedsharipov since he last fought in 2019 for the UFC against Calvin Kattar. After the Rodriguez fell apart, he was said to be dealing with some health issues, and then he decided to retire from MMA in 2022.
Since then, he has been training his younger brother, Khasan Magomedsharipov, who makes his PFL debut in June, in a fight first revealed by Heavy.com’s Marcel Dorff. Look for the older brother to be in his young brother’s corner for that fight. But as far as ever stepping into the cage again himself, it’s not likely, making him one of the biggest mysteries in MMA history.
Zabit Magomedsharipov Explains Why He Retired From UFC at 31