Zabit Magomedsharipov has gone down as one of the biggest, if not the biggest ‘what if’ stories in UFC history, after retiring from the sport in 2019 due to health complications.
Zabit Magomedsharipov was widely regarded as a guaranteed future UFC champion by the majority of the MMA fanbase, because of his incredibly well-rounded and dominant skillset.
Unfortunately, though, in 2019 the 18-1 Russian decided that being a professional MMA fighter was no longer what he wanted to do after suffering health complications, and instead, decided to become a doctor.
Zabit Magomedsharipov reveals the UFC has approached him ‘3 or 4’ times to return
Magomedsharipov’s last fight came against Calvin Kattar in what was his first main event with the promotion.
After picking up the unanimous decision victory, Zabit was likely just one more win away from a title shot.
Despite that, he left the sport not long after, breaking the hearts of many MMA fans who loved to watch him compete under the UFC banner.
With that, Zabit has recently revealed that the UFC has approached him three or four times regarding a possible return to the promotion, even offering him an immediate title shot.
“Yes, they do (reach out) from time to time since I left the sport, three or four times they got in touch, they wanted to have a meeting with me, they invited me to the U.S. but I couldn’t go,” Zabit began to explain to Red Corner MMA.
“I know that I can’t promise them anything so why should I go and meet with them? Sometimes I do (think about returning to MMA) but I don’t have the desire yet, I have the desire to train and help my brothers, that’s it,” he continued.
Although the promotion offered him an immediate title shot if he returned, the 33-year-old admitted that it’s not about the money for him. His return will have come at a time when refreshing new faces were needed atop the 145lb division, as Alexander Volkanovski was struggling for new contenders.
“No, it’s not (about the money), 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, whatever they offer me, I don’t think I’ll ever come back,” Zabit stated.
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MMA fans will have to enjoy his undefeated brother instead
The only silver lining to the Zabit Magomedsharipov story is that he has a brother who still competes in the sport, and is undefeated at 10-0.
Khasan Magomedsharipov competes under the Bellator banner and is seemingly close to competing for the featherweight title against Patricio Pitbull.
Zabit does in fact corner his 23-year-old brother, so MMA fans will have to somehow get some excitement out of that, knowing that Zabit will likely never return to competition himself.
The performance Zabit is most well known for is probably his fight against Kyle Bochniak at UFC 223 in 2018. During that fight, the Russian showcased an extremely dominant wrestling game, alongside his utterly mesmerizing striking arsenal.
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