‘Health Problems’ May Stop Zabit From Continuing His Fight Career

According to Zabit’s manager, it’s health problems that are keeping the Dagestani prospect out of the cage… and may end his UFC career before it really gets going.

Some fighters just don’t compete enough for whatever reason. Yair Rodriguez sitting on the shelf for as many years as he has feels borderline criminal. Throwing him back in against Max Holloway also seems like the move of a promotion that doesn’t particularly care about his development, but whatever. Maybe we’re just making up for lost time here.

Another guy who hasn’t fought in forever: Zabit Magomedsharipov, one of the earlier generations of great Caucus hopes to win a UFC title. Unfortunately, he hasn’t competed since November 2019 and it doesn’t look like he’ll fight again any time soon.

Originally there were rumors that Zabit was basically ‘over’ the fight life and training for bouts that never ended up happening. But now there’s word from people close to Zabit that it’s health issues that are keeping him out of the Octagon.

“Zabit Magomedsharipov’s manager Rizvan Magomedov confirmed what I reported earlier,” TASS reporter Igor Lazorin wrote on social media. “Zabit has health problems, and more specifically, with the immune system. Magomedsharipov will not return to the Octagon until these problems are resolved. These problems prevent Zabit from fully preparing for fights.”

“In the near future, Zabit must postpone surgery to resolve these problems. And then it will be clear whether he will be able to continue his career.”

If there is nothing lost in translation and Magomedsharipov really can’t undergo surgery due to the state of his immune system, that would indicate some pretty serious medical issues indeed. If what they meant was Zabit needs surgery to resolve these issues, it still sounds pretty serious.

We imagine more clarity will be provided soon on what happened (COVID-19?) and Zabit’s chances of recovery. It would be quite the loss if he can never compete again.