Zabit Magomedsharipov: ‘I wouldn’t say that I’ve got the best endurance

Featherweight standout Zabit Magomedsharipov has admitted his cardio isn’t the best after suffering with endurance issues during his past two fights.

The 28-year-old Russian contender visibly faded in fights against Jeremy Stephens and Calvin Kattar in 2019. However, he maintains he can do five rounds no problem in training, but is sometimes impacted by sickness, poor weight cuts or the rush of fight night. Speaking to Russia Today Sports he explained

“I wouldn’t say that I’ve got the best endurance. I have no problems going five rounds during training. Sometimes my weight cut doesn’t go as planned. I can get sick. I use up a lot of energy, when you kick it takes a lot of you. If it’s just boxing, I can easily go five rounds. When you do the same thing all the time, it doesn’t take much energy.”

Magomedsharipov believes the issue of his cardio is being blown way out of proportion. He has had fans come up to him on a consistent basis worrying about his ability to go the distance. So much so, he has now become zoned out whenever the topic gets brought up.

“At first it was annoying. Now, I don’t pay attention to it. Every other person I meet wants to talk about endurance. Everything’s okay, but it definitely gets tiring,” he said. “It must be contagious; every other person tells you the same thing. I have trainers, after all, they probably know what I’m missing. I know myself.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)

Despite questions surrounding his endurance the featherweight contender is having no problems inside the octagon. He is 6-0 since joining the UFC and 18-1 as a professional fighter.

Magomedsharipov is expected to return to the cage against Brian Ortega on April 18 on the UFC 249 card headlined by compatriot Khabib Nurmagomedov and lightweight title challenger Tony Ferguson. He’s rumoured to be facing top contender Brian Ortega, who will undoubtedly the toughest test of his career. A win in this one and Magomedsharipov could well be next in line for 145lb champion Alexander Volkanovski.

Will Zabit Magomedsharipov overcome his endurance issues and beat Brain Ortega at UFC 249?