Zabit Magomedsharipov Wants Yair Rodriguez If Title Shot Isn’t Possible

UFC featherweight contender Zabit Magomedsharipov wants to fight for the title next. But if that doesn’t pan out, he has another option in Yair Rodriguez.

Magomedsharipov recently went 6-0 with the promotion following his unanimous decision victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC Moscow earlier this month. He called for a title shot soon after as he felt he had deserved it.

“I think it is going to be a very exciting fight; I can’t wait to see it,” Magomedsharipov said of the UFC 245 co-headliner between Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski next month. “I will also be happy to face the winner of this upcoming fight.

“I think I fully deserve the title fight and after enough preparation, I should be more than ready to have a go at the title.”

However, some believe he needs to compete in a five-rounder first before potentially taking on the winner of that fight. That’s fine by the Dagestan native as his manager Rizvan Magomedov revealed they are looking at other options too:

“Obviously we will wait for the result of the Max Holloway vs Volkanovski competition,” Magomedov said in a recent interview translated by BJ Penn. “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 five-round fight and we will show everyone that the Zabit is ready for it.”

Magomedsharipov and Rodriguez have been slated to fight for a while but it’s yet to come to fruition. Maybe we could see that next.

Would you want to see Magomedsharipov vs. Rodriguez?