Zabit Magomedsharipov has finally explained the circumstances behind his 2022 retirement from MMA, and the frustration that drove him away from the sport centers on a specific sequence of canceled fights and what he believes was a deliberate decision by the UFC to deny him a title shot.
Magomedsharipov, who went 6-0 inside the UFC before his final appearance at UFC 242 in November 2019, spoke on a video posted by ACB JJ ahead of a grappling appearance expected later in 2026. The talk of a UFC return has been replaced by the story of why he left in the first place.
“There were a lot of reasons I retired, so many reasons. Just couldn’t make the fight happen. I wanted to fight but they’d postpone fights and we couldn’t make a deal. But all these times I was making weight, going through camps, flying out to America. And by the time you get there, you’ve already been through so much: weight cut, training, camp and everything. And then you arrive and two or three weeks before the fight they tell you, ‘That’s it, he’s injured,’ and they postpone again. I’d go back home again, and start getting ready all over again. Imagine that about five times. I got tired of it. Like, how much can you take?”
He also revealed that an agreement existed with the UFC regarding a title shot in the event of another cancellation, one he says was never honored.
“We had some agreements with them: if he pulls out of the fight a third time, they’d automatically give me the title fight. That’s what we’ve talked about. And the third time he found excuses, he came up with a lot of reasons. Then they started offering me someone else. First Korean Zombie, then some other guy, but really, at that time, it was me and Rodriguez. The two of us were contenders.”
Magomedsharipov also claimed the UFC’s reluctance to promote him to a title shot was influenced by the number of Russian champions already on the roster at the time.
“And they just didn’t want to make me a champion. I know why, too. Because at that time we already had a lot of champions from Russia. Khabib was the champion then, and Yan. And because of that it wasn’t beneficial for them that a third champion would be from Russia. At first, before they were around, they promoted me really well.”
Magomedsharipov, who turned 35 in March, last fought in November 2019 when he defeated Calvin Kattar by decision to improve to 18-1 overall and 6-0 in the UFC.
