Yair Rodriguez out of main event fight against Zabit Magomedsharipov

Yair Rodriguez and Zabit Magomedsharipov will have to wait a little longer to fight one another.

The two have been linked to fighting one another for quite some time, and on Aug. 29 in the main event, they were expected to finally meet. Yet, on Tuesday evening, Mexican outlet Milenio, reported Rodriguez is out of the fight. Dana White later confirmed at the post-fight press conference following the Contender Series.

“Yeah, he had a high ankle sprain and a fracture, so he is out,” White said.

The outlet reported the hope for Rodriguez is the UFC will rebook the fight for a later date.

Yair Rodriguez last fought back at UFC Boston last October where he beat Jeremy Stephens by decision. Before that, he had the no-contest against Stephens due to accidental eye pokes. He also has notable wins over Korean Zombie, B.J. Penn, Dan Hooker, Andre Fili, and Alex Caceres with his lone loss in the Octagon to Frankie Edgar. Currently, the Mexican is ranked fifth in the featherweight division.

Zabit Magomedsharipov, meanwhile, is riding a 14-fight winning streak and is a perfect 6-0 inside the Octagon. Last time out he edged out a decision win over Calvin Kattar at UFC Moscow in what was his first main event spot, but it was only three rounds due to the short notice.

The Russian also has a win over Stephens and a very impressive submission victory over Brandon Davis. He is ranked third in the featherweight division.

Yair Rodriguez vs. Zabit Magomedsharipov was a fight many fans were looking forward to. A lot of people also expected the winner to get the next crack at Alex Volkanovski so the stakes were high for this one.

As of right now, there is no word on who will headline the August 29 event. Anthony Smith vs. Aleksandar Rakic and Geoff Neal vs. Neil Magny are on the card. So, perhaps the UFC just promotes one of those fights to the main event.

What do you make of Yair Rodriguez being out of his fight against Zabit Magomedsharipov?