Zabit Magomedsharipov wants featherweight title shot next, but open to Yair Rodriguez fight

UFC featherweight contender Zabit Magomedsharipov wants a featherweight title shot next, but he’s also open to a fight with Yair Rodriguez.

Magomedsharipov recently defeated Calvin Kattar in the main event of UFC Moscow to improve his UFC record to a perfect 6-0. The victory improved his UFC record to 18-1 and he is currently riding a 14-fight win streak since his lone career defeat in 2013.

The UFC featherweight championship is set to be defended next month at UFC 245 by champion Max Holloway when he takes on No. 1 contender Alexander Volkanovski. According to Magomedsharipov’s manager Rizvan Magomedov, his client is hoping to get a title shot against the winner of that fight due to his high ranking in the division, but he also suggested a few other potential opponents should he not get the title shot.

Here’s what Magomedov told FightWorldTurkey in a recent interview (translated via Google).

“Obviously we will wait for the result of the Max Holloway vs Volkanovski competition. Let’s see how this fight goes. If we get a chance to go to the post-fight belt competition, of course we will. But if that’s not possible, we’d like to fight Yair Rodriguez. The winner or loser of the Korean Zombie fight with Brian Ortega is also a good option. However, this time there will be a 5-round fight and we will show everyone that the Zabit is ready for it,” Magomedov said of Magomedsharipov.

According to his manager, Magomedsharipov didn’t want to take a five-round fight with Kattar because he was sick leading into the bout. Fans and media criticized his decision not to fight for five rounds, but if he was sick it was a good reason to ask for three rounds since the fight was moved to the main event on short notice.

In the interview, Magomedsharipov’s manager also said that the financial figures floating around on the Internet about his purse are bogus and he made a lot more money than has been reported by third-party websites.

“Obviously it’s wrong that Zabit won $ 60,000 in his last fight, because he won a lot more. UFC never publishes actual budgets. The numbers on the Internet are wrong and I have no idea where they came from. Some figures are 4-5 times less than the fighters won. I’ve never seen real figures shared,” his manager said.

Who do you think Zabit Magomedsharipov should fight next?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/18/2019.