Zabit Magomedsharipov wreaked havoc in the UFC’s featherweight division after making his debut in 2017. The Russian fighter went on a six-fight winning streak which helped him earn the third spot in the featherweight rankings.
Following his brilliant performance, he was touted to become the next big thing and quite possibly emerge into the toughest challenge of current UFC Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
However, due to health issues related to his immune system, Zabit was unable to compete inside the UFC octagon for almost two years. Consequently, the promotion removed him from the featherweight rankings due to inactivity. Zabit’s manager at that time Rizvan Magomedov revealed that the Russian fighter won’t return to the octagon until his health problem is resolved.
Since his manager’s confirmation, fans are highly awaiting his comeback as he is a phenomenal fighter with great calibre. A few weeks ago, Ali Abdelaziz who is currently managing Zabit revealed that the featherweight contender will fight this year.
However, there are still doubts regarding his return as neither Dana White nor Zabit has confirmed this news since that tweet.
Will Zabit Magomedsharipov compete in the UFC again?
Despite Ali Abdelaziz’s update about the return of Zabit Magomedsharipov, as per recent news from his Russian coach, we might not see him compete in the UFC again. He revealed in one of the interviews that the Russian featherweight has no intentions to fight ever.
“He’s been doing it his whole life. He got tired of it. In the past, we had to fight for living. But now, we have better lives. There’s no need to fight to make living anymore. There are many ways to make money and life’s easier.”
Zabit was considering taking retirement from MMA last year after his health issues were severely affecting him. Ever since that statement last year, the Russian featherweight has not given any update about his return.
Therefore it would be unfortunate if his coach’s statement about him not competing again is true as he had great potential to become one of the greatest featherweights in the history of UFC.
Do let us know in the comments section whether Zabit has made the right decision of not returning to the UFC.
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