UFC star Zabit Magomedsharipov is retiring from fighting at 31 years old, per TMZ Sports.
Magomedsharipov finishes his professional MMA career with an 18-1 record.
Magomedsharipov’s last professional fight took place at UFC Fight Night 163 in November 2019 when he defeated Calvin Kattar by unanimous decision.
He was once ranked in the UFC’s top five, but the league removed him for inactivity. During his prime, he was widely considered as a future champion in the UFC featherweight division.
The Russian was unbeaten (6-0) in six fights between 2017-19. The reason for his inactivity since then is unknown.
MMA insider Ariel Helwani reports that Magomedsharipov’s inactivity/retirement stems from a “moral religious dilemma.”
“From what I was told, he had almost like this moral religious dilemma that he was dealing with,” Helwani said on an episode of The MMA Hour. “He’s very religious and I think he reached a point where he just didn’t wanna do it anymore. Now, his brother fights and he corners his brother, which I think is very interesting, but obviously everyone is different.”
A couple months back, Magomedsharipov posted a photo on Instagram suggesting a career switch to the medical field.
It’s unclear if Magomedsharipov will ever step foot in the octagon again.