Zabit Magomedsharipov had all the makings of an elite Featherweight contender.
Unfortunately for fight fans, the flashy Dagestani striker didn’t have it in him anymore to compete. Three years after his final win, a unanimous decision against Calvin Kattar, Magomedsharipov hung up the gloves and hasn’t looked back.
Despite Magomedsharipov’s absence from mixed martial arts (MMA) as a fighter, it hasn’t stopped his old promotion, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), from trying to tempt him back into the Octagon.
“Yes, they do from time to time since I left the sport,” Magomedsharipov told Sport 24 (h/t Red Corner MMA) when asked if UFC has asked to have him fight again. “Three of four times they wanted to have a meeting with me, invited me to the United States, but I couldn’t go. I know that I can’t promise them anything, so why should I go and meet with them?
“Sometimes I do [think about coming back], but I don’t have the desire yet,” he continued. “I have the desire to train, and help my brothers, that’s it. They promised me a lot of things, but that’s not the point. I simply made up my mind, I don’t want to prove anything to anybody. Come back, go through training camps, I have no desire to return, and it’s not about money. I don’t think I will ever come back.”
Magomedsharipov, 33, went 6-0 in UFC before retiring with a nearly perfect overall record of 18-1. At UFC 228, Magomedsharipov famously showed off his unique well-roundedness when he submitted Brandon Davis with a second round Suloev stretch in September 2018.