With an impressive victory over the ultra-tough Calvin Kattar on Saturday in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 22, the only real question left for Zabit Magomedsharipov is how close he might be to a featherweight title shot.
The Dagestani standout remained unbeaten in the UFC with his victory in Moscow, and there isn’t a whole lot of daylight left between him, champion Max Holloway, and top contender Alexander Volkanovski, who square off for the title next month at UFC 245.
So where to rank Magomedsharipov after another impressive outing? We’ve settled on No. 4, for now. Maybe he gets the UFC 245 winner, maybe he’s one more fight away, but a title shot sometime in 2020 certainly seems plausible the way things are going.
That wasn’t the only matchup of note with divisional implications over the weekend. We also had former Bellator heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov’s win over Greg Hardy. And over at Bellator 233, former featherweight title challenger Arlene Blencowe made her case for another championship match with a nice win over the well-respected Leslie Smith.
To find out where they landed in their respective divisions — or to learn where your favorite or least favorite fighters currently rank — scroll up above to check out the current USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.
