Zabit Magomedsharipov opened a lot of eyes at UFC 223 with his victory over Kyle Bochniak. The 27-year-old from Dagestan was awarded a unanimous decision victory in a bout which was awarded Fight of the Night. He’s now 3-0 in the UFC with 3 performance bonuses to go along with them.
Zabit’s controversial manager, Ali Abdelaziz, recently told TMZ reporters that Zabit fought at UFC 223 with a broken hand.
Zabit Magomedsharipov Fought With Broken Hand at UFC 223
“The man fought with a broken arm. He broke his hand in the lockerroom,” Abdelaziz said before asking Zabit to show the camera his cast.
“When he was warming up, he punched his coach in the head,” Zabit’s manager continued. “He broke his thumb. He wasn’t throwing right hands, he was throwing left hooks. And he was switching to south paw!”
Abdelaziz: Zabit is a Much Improved Version of Bruce Lee
“I manage many world champion, I see a lot of martial artists, I manage Khabib (Nurmagomedov), Frankie Edgar, (Fabricio) Werdum, but I’ve never seen a complete martial artist like him,” Abdelaziz said of his client.
“He’s a much better version of Bruce Lee. He is, that’s the truth. Bruce Lee cannot do the stuff he does. I love Bruce Lee, I respect him. He’s Bruce Lee on steroids,” Abdelaziz said of Zabit, though he likely wasn’t conceding his client takes PEDs.
“I’m confident he can beat (Brian) Ortega today, he can beat Max (Holloway) today, he can beat all those guys today.”
As for potential next opponents for Zabit, Abdelaziz suggested someone in the top-15 featherweight rankings should travel to Russia to take on Zabit next. He mentioned the name Yair Rodriguez specifically.
Zabit is 15-1 as a professional since debuting in 2012. His only loss came in 2013 when he tapped to an armbar from Igor Egorov at ProFC 47 in Russia. He made his first UFC appearance last September, finishing Mike Santiago in the 2nd round via RNC at Fight Night: Rotterdam. He followed that up by submitting Sheymon Moraes in November at Fight Night: Shanghai.
