In the main fight of the UFC Fight Night tournament in Moscow, which will be held on November 9, Zabit Magomedsharipov will fight with Kelvin Kattar. A victory over an American can not only make him the first contender for the featherweight champion, but also bring him closer to the status of a mixed martial arts star. At the same time, Russians already have a set of qualities to become no less popular than Khabib Nurmagomedov.
28-year-old Magomedsharipov made his debut in the Absolute Fighting Championship only two years ago, but during this time he managed to make his way from a newcomer to the largest MMA promotion in the world to one of the main applicants for the belt. And in this he was helped not only by an impressive series of 13 victories in a row (five in the UFC), but also by the style in which he won them. So, four matches involving Zabit were marked by various awards from the organizers, including “Fight of the evening” and “Performance of the evening”. It is especially worth noting his original knee lever in a fight with Brandon Davis, recognized as the “Pain of the Year” in 2018.
The domestic featherweight attracts attention not only with early victories. Fans are impressed by his inventive style, which includes not only skillful wrestling in the stalls, but also high-class percussion technique. Magomedsharipov beats with both hands and feet, which is why it is dangerous at any distance. In addition, he is extremely inventive and able to make extraordinary decisions. It’s enough to recall his “Show-kick” (kick after pushing away from the cage) in the battle with Mike Santiago or the numerous U-turns that the audience likes so much.
In this regard, Magomedsharipov even surpasses the more popular Nurmagomedov. Unlike his compatriot, Habib was never a specialist in percussion technique, as was clearly demonstrated by Dustin Porrier, Michael Johnson and the same Conor McGregor. In the third round of the title fight, the Irishman was noticeably superior to the counterparts in the rack, and this despite the exhausting struggle in the first two five-minute periods.
At the same time, Zabit is unlikely to ever be able to compare with Nurmagomedov in the ability to dominate the opponent. Habib is famous for not leaving a chance to rivals and often can drive it into the canvas with powerful blows for several minutes. Magomedsharipov never worked in this manner, as a result of which his superiority is not always felt. Yes, he deals with opponents of the caliber of the same Davis without any problems, but with his peers everything is different.
Suffice it to recall his duel with one of the featherweight old-timers Jeremy Stevens. In the battle with a high-class rival, Magomedsharipov looked rather cautiously, because of which he could not demonstrate the best qualities and be remembered for his beautiful attacking actions. The fight turned out to be extremely intense, but rather fresh, which in many ways prevented Zabit from joining the fight for the status of the applicant.
It can be safely stated that Zabit’s vibrant style has already brought him many fans, and in the future may increase their number. True, for this he needs to demonstrate it in fights with top fighters. In the case of memorable early victories, he is able to repeat the path of McGregor and for two and a half years get a chance to fight for the title. Many people forget, but the Irishman was distinguished not only by his shockingness and high-class trash-talk, but also by his colorful performances in the octagon. On the way to the first battle for the belt, he won five victories, four of which were premature. For comparison, Nurmagomedov took six years to do this.
It is worth noting that the cause of such a long ascent of Habib to the top was frequent injuries. In the period from 2014 to 2016, the Russian was more treated, which seriously slowed down his career. Only finally recovering from the damage, he began to act more stable and over the next four years, five times went into the octagon.
Clogged while doing without practically injuries. He consistently holds two battles a year, which strengthens his faith in the promotion leadership. So far, he was only once responsible for the transfer of the fight. Initially, his duel with Kattar was supposed to take place on October 18 at the UFC Fight Night tournament in Boston, but due to health problems, the Russian was moved to Moscow.
Another distinctive feature of Magomedsharipov is his ideal reputation in the sports world. He never became the object of scandals and did not differ rude comments to any of the rivals. Scored is not part of Nurmagomedov’s team, so he managed to avoid a number of conflict situations. Over the past few years, Habib managed to have a fight with his brothers Nick and Nate Diaz, as well as participate in a number of not-so-beautiful episodes with the McGregor team.
Undoubtedly, the Irishman always behaved defiantly and did not hesitate to insult Nurmagomedov, but he very often answered rather harshly. It is enough to recall his statements after the victory over Johnson in New York, when he called the Irishman “a chicken” or the incident with Artyom Lobov in the hotel lobby in Brooklyn. In addition, before the duel with Conor himself, he allowed himself some rude remarks against the Irish people, in particular, regarding the crowding out of their native language with English.
You can also recall the story of the cancellation of the concert of Yegor Creed and MC Doni in Makhachkala. Shortly before the performance, the artist began to receive numerous threats, after which the event was canceled. At the same time, many felt that the reason for this was the position of Nurmagomedov, who had expressed dissatisfaction with the material of another famous musician some time before. Subsequently, Habib came into conflict with the founder of the Black Star label Timati, during which he called him “the devil”.
After some time, Habib harshly criticized the content of the play “Hunting for Men”. The UFC champion was outraged by the fact that in Dagestan a production was shown, which contained scenes with nudity, and called for a ban on its display.
The darkest spot in Nurmagomedov’s career is the incident at the end of the UFC 229 tournament, when a Russian soldier jumped out of the cage and provoked a brawl in the hall. Subsequently, for his actions, he received a nine-month suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NSAC).
Magomedsharipov, for the time being, has avoided such incidents, but the reason may be that so far he has not met a McGregor caliber stimulus. Until now, not one of the opponents has been able to offend him alive, and Zabit himself has always remained calm.