Top-ranked Featherweight offers to step in for Yair Rodriguez after withdrawal from Zabit Magomedsharipov fight

UFC President Dana White revealed that Yair Rodriguez is out of his main event bout against Zabit Magomedsharipov on August 29th due to a high-ankle sprain and fracture.

The bout was an important one. Zabit Magomedsharipov's manager Rizvan Magomedov revealed that the fight was set to determine the next Featherweight Championship contender.

However, all hope isn't lost just yet. Calvin Kattar, who is now #6 in the Featherweight rankings, offered to step in and fight Zabit Magomedsharipov, according to Ariel Helwani of ESPN.

Just be to clear here, Kattar offered to step in. UFC hasn’t decided yet what they’ll do with Zabit.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 5, 2020

Helwani, however, stated that this is only a case of Kattar offering to step in and not a decision that UFC has made just yet.

Does Calvin Kattar vs Zabit Magomedsharipov make sense to put together?

Calvin Kattar won a hard-fought battle against Dan Ige at UFC Fight Island. Given that he's now #6 in the Featherweight rankings, he certainly makes sense as an opponent against Zabit Magomedsharipov.

It could be a #1 contender's fight of sorts. However, it appears as though the title shot will be given to the winner of The 'Korean Zombie' vs Brian Ortega fight that's expected to happen later this year.

Alexander Volkanovski believes that Zabit Magomedsharipov and The Korean Zombie are both a win away from securing a title shot and he'll end up facing the fighter who wins more emphatically. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

The only reason why the Zombie vs Ortega fight hasn't been made is due to South Korea's lockdown restrictions. The Featherweight division has the potential to be among the most exciting ones in the UFC, but most of the top 5 fighters haven't been as active as fans would have liked.

Either way, expect to have a clear-cut #1 contender by the end of the year.