Zabit Magomedsharipov: 5 things that made him great

Zabit Magomedsharipov is one of a kind. Most fighters are either specialists or jacks of all trades but masters of none. Mixed martial artists like current middleweight Israel Adesanya and former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov are specialists. The latter is a punishing wrestler-grappler, while the former is an elusive striker.

Fighters like Jon Jones, however, are well-rounded but no longer specialize in any particular style of martial art. While he was once a strong wrestler who favored a Greco-Roman approach, which he used as the foundation for his clinch work and in-fighting, Jon Jones' wrestling has weakened the more he began favoring his limited kickboxing. Thus, few fighters possess an elite level of skill in striking, wrestling, and grappling.

Zabit Magomedsharipov was one of the few fighters who was highly skilled in all three phases of combat. While he never fulfilled his destiny and became a UFC champion, he went on an unprecedented win streak, showcasing the true beauty of martial arts in the octagon. Few were and are as skilled as he was, nor did they possess the ability to combine all of his skills into a unified fighting system as he did.

Unfortunately, fans will never see him face the likes of Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski. Only memories of his performance against Calvin Kattar remain. This list looks at the five things that made Zabit Magomedsharipov a great mixed martial artist.

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#5. Zabit Magomedsharipov's footwork

Magomedsharipov remains one of the tallest featherweights in UFC history. Not only does he stand at a staggering 6'1", but possesses a reach of 73 inches. The result is that Zabit Magomedsharipov often fought from the outside, where his height and reach allowed him to operate from a range longer than his opponents were accustomed to.

This rendered Zabit very difficult to hit. To reinforce his elusiveness, he kept a mobile stance with his feet light, standing on the balls of his feet, enabling him to switch stances more efficiently and change angles. Due to this, Zabit proved difficult for opponents to deal with in the first two rounds before his cardio issues arose.

The long range from which he operated allowed him more time and space to make reads. His opponents' extra step to close the distance telegraphed their intentions. Because Zabit Magomedsharipov stood light on his feet from a mobile stance, he could quickly shift his angles to step out of the way of punches and kicks.

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#4. Stance switching

Not many fighters, active or otherwise, are comfortable fighting from both southpaw and orthodox positions. Zabit's stance-switching served both defensive and offensive purposes. Defensively, it changed his alignment, so he neutralized an opponent's jab and low kick. In his southpaw stance, his lead hand was in the way of his opponent's jab.

Furthermore, by switching stances, he altered his body's alignment, causing his opponent's rear leg to no longer be aligned with his lead leg. Instead, his opponent's rear kicking leg was aligned with his rear leg, neutralizing the threat of outside low kicks, which his foes often sought due to his length.

Zabit was elusive, drawing out low kicks because shorter fighters are often advised to use their legs, their longest weapons, to attack the closest target, usually their opponent's lead leg. However, by changing his alignment with his stance-switching, Zabit Magomedsharipov deprived both orthodox and southpaw fighters of the ability to punish him and limit his mobility with low kicks.

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#3. Zabit Magomedsharipov's wrestling

Despite his excellent striking technique, Magomedsharipov possessed high-level wrestling informed by his past sambo experience. The former UFC featherweight often used his striking to create openings for his wrestling. Whenever he'd follow up his jab, he'd not only move his head off the center-line to evade counter-punches but also duck under his opponent's strikes. He'd maintain a low posture, bobbing and weaving to frustrate his opponents into swinging wildly.

Zabit Magomedsharipov would dart forward when his foes obliged, securing an easy body lock as his opponents were too preoccupied with landing punches on his moving head to fight for underhooks. Once he locked his hands together behind his opponent's back, Zabit used a variety of trips and suplexes that relied on his length for additional leverage in the clinch.

One of his most defensively responsible takedowns involved a back-trip. He'd secure the body lock on his foe, tugging them backward to upset their balance before positioning his foot right behind his opponent's ankle and kicking them over it as he pulled them backward.

It was a defensively responsible takedown. Unlike a double-leg takedown or a single-leg, whenever his opponents defended his body lock back-trip, Zabit Magomedsharipov still maintained control of their posture because his grip was never broken. He could chain his takedowns together by taking advantage of his opponent's upset balance from having defended his back-trip, allowing him to use his leverage for an easy suplex.

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#2. His grappling

On the ground, Zabit Magomedsharipov was no less spectacular than he was when he fought standing. Whenever he was on top of his foes, he often sought to secure wrist control to prevent opponents from framing him or threatening him with D'Arce chokes. He would also push the top of his head against his opponent's chin, breaking their posture. Whenever his foes rolled onto their stomachs to stand back on their feet, Zabit Magomedsharipov would immediately attack their exposed backs.

He'd trap his opponents with body triangles or sink in his hooks to flatten them out under him. Like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Zabit paid particular attention to his opponent's first line of defense during grappling transitions, immediately addressing minor defensive tactics before his opponents could build from them.

Whenever he was on his opponent's back, Zabit Magomedsharipov often used wrist control to tug his foe's arm down, trapping it under their body as he flattened them out, essentially turning them into a one-handed fighter. With his hand keeping his foe's other arm trapped, he used his free hand to punish them with punches.

These punches didn't always have the most power behind them, but their purpose was usually to create openings for submission attempts. If his foes became concerned about using their free hand to block the punches he was landing, they were no longer thinking about defending submissions. Once they began anticipating a punch, he'd slide his arm under their chin to set up a rear naked choke.

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#1. Immense creativity

Most fighters have a few techniques that they rely on and build their entire fighting system around. Jon Jones, for example, relies heavily on push-kicks to the knee, oblique kicks, side kicks, and posting his lead arm out as he leans away while retreating to avoid his opponent's strikes. Amanda Nunes often throws a jab-right cross combination with an occasional low kick and rarely deviates from that approach.

Zabit Magomedsharipov was different. The sheer variety of his skill-set rendered him incredibly creative, especially in the striking phase of combat.

Not only did he possess a dynamic array of kicks, but he presented threats from both his southpaw and orthodox stances. His confidence in his deep striking arsenal encouraged him to attempt strikes that other fighters would never dare to. In his UFC debut, Magomedsharipov fought Mike Santiago, defeating him with a rear naked choke in the closing stages of the second round.

A round before securing the choke, Zabit threw a round kick that Santiago immediately caught. His foe sought to use Zabit's captured leg to set up a single-leg takedown. As he pushed the Dagestani back to upset his balance, Zabit Magomedsharipov used his free leg, hopping in place, to time Santiago with a knee as his foe ducked in to initiate a single-leg takedown. His creativity is inimitable and wholly unique and part of why Zabit Magomedsharipov is a sight to behold.