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“Sometimes my weight cut doesn’t go as planned. I can get sick. I use up a lot of energy, when you kick it takes a lot of you.”
As talented a featherweight Zabit Magomedsharipov is, the Dagestani fighter has shown a tendency to fade in later rounds, and the 28-year-old admitted as much in a recent interview with Russia Today Sports, where he explained why he had endurance issues in his most recent bouts with Calvin Kattar and Jeremy Stephens.
“I wouldn’t say that I’ve got the best endurance,” Zabit said, per Low Kick MMA’s Jordan Ellis. “I have no problems going five rounds during training. Sometimes my weight cut doesn’t go as planned. I can get sick. I use up a lot of energy, when you kick it takes a lot of you. If it’s just boxing, I can easily go five rounds. When you do the same thing all the time, it doesn’t take much energy.”
With that said, with a professional MMA record of 18-1 and six straight wins under the UFC banner, Zabit believes fans are getting a little carried away with the criticism.
“At first it was annoying. Now, I don’t pay attention to it. Every other person I meet wants to talk about endurance. Everything’s okay, but it definitely gets tiring,” he said. “It must be contagious; every other person tells you the same thing. I have trainers, after all, they probably know what I’m missing. I know myself.”
Following his unanimous decision win over Kattar at UFC Fight Night 163, Magomedsharipov is rumored to return to the Octagon at UFC 249 to face top featherweight contender Brian Ortega. The highly anticipated PPV, which features a headlining lightweight title bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, takes places on April 18 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.