His last win was an impressive decision victory over Calvin Kattar and before that, he defeated a seasoned veteran in Jeremy Stephens. The Russian has been on the rise, but he’s yet to have a 5-round war in the UFC or his entire MMA career, for that matter.
One of the biggest criticisms that he’s received over the past two years has been about his cardio. Training under Mark Henry, Zabit’s skills have significantly improved but there has been a visible drop in his stamina levels through the fight.
While that’s not uncommon, the fact that he’s in a lower weight class and suffers from low cardio has, in the eyes of many, ruled him out against a potential opponent like Max Holloway, who is essentially a cardio and volume king.
Zabit has heard the critics and took to Instagram to fire back, defending his fighting style as a safe one:
You can see the post below:
Whether he defends it or not, the fact of the matter is that if a clash with Max Holloway is inevitable, then the Russian needs to get his cardio to improve drastically. When facing top-ranked Featherweights, the output and speed of punches may overwhelm him and derail the hype train that he’s built up these past few years.
A post shared by Zabit (@zabit_magomedsharipov) on Nov 30, 2019 at 10:19am PST
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