- Zabit Magomedsharipov opened up about his decision to retire
- The 31-year-old has no plans of coming back to fighting at this point
After being unbeaten for nine years, Zabit Magomedsharipov surprisingly never fought inside the octagon at least once since 2019. His last fight took place at UFC Fight Night 163 where he beat Calvin Kattar via decision. From then on, nothing progressed for the Russian MMA fighter, prompting him to call it a career earlier this year.
A broken promise
According to Magomedsharipov, there were a lot of reasons why you decided to retire and leave the UFC, but mainly, it was because the promotion apparently never kept its word.
“The reasons … there were many reasons,” he said. “Firstly because of refusals to fight with me. I had no fights for two years. Then there were injuries, I was sick a lot. I didn’t recover. Such, many reasons.”
“The main reason was that I was not able to fight,” he continued. “They didn’t give me a title shot. They promised one thing and did another. That was a little bit … they promised me and didn’t keep a promise. That was the main reason why I got mad.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuoI39ioNkM&feature=emb_title
Not coming back
In retrospect, the UFC attempted to slate Magomedsharipov against his fellow featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez multiple times. However, rumors swirled that Magomedsharipov was dealing with a serious medical condition.
But Magomedsharipov suggested that it was more on the way the UFC handled his situation than anything else.
When asked if he would still be open to return to fighting if the opportunity comes, the 31-year-old replied with a definitive “no” and added:
“The time has passed, I don’t have such a desire. I want to do it when I see someone fighting. When I join their training camp, me and other friends. There could be a wish. I have to think. I am going to think about your question.”
As for a possibility to coach fighters, Magomedsharipov left the door open and said:
“It could be. Why not? It is interesting for me to work with children. Not adults, just children. To teach them. To communicate with them. It is interesting to me. I want to have rest from sport a year or two. Maybe then I will start, we will see.”
Magomedsharipov has gone 14 fights without losing and is still in his early 30s. So he could surely be effective on whatever he decides to do, be it fighting or coaching. Let’s wait and see.
