Ex-UFC fighter tipped by Joe Rogan to become world champion retired from MMA to pursue shock career

An ex-UFC fighter once tipped by Joe Rogan to win a world title is now pursuing a completely new career after announcing his shock retirement.

Mixed Martial Arts can be a brutal and cruel sport, with some fighters expected to go to the very top falling short before their career can really get going.

Fighters like Darren Till or Uriah Hall were tipped by many to go on to become a world champion in their division, but failed to reach their potential despite spending years fighting in the UFC.

However, perhaps more than any other fighter ever to step foot into an octagon, one stands out as the biggest 'what if?' in UFC history.

As soon as he made his UFC debut in September 2017, it was clear that Zabit Magomedsharipov was something special.

The Russian joined the premier MMA organisation with 12 wins and only one loss and continued this form into his early days in the UFC, getting back-to-back performance of the night awards in his first two fights.

Speaking about Magomedsharipov after his third UFC bout, a fight of the night against Kyle Bochniak, popular commentator Rogan couldn't hold back his excitement.

"Holy s*** is this guy good!" Rogan exclaimed in an episode of his podcast.

Rogan continued to heap praise on the featherweight fighter, recalling a conversation he had with legendary MMA trainer Mark Henry about his talents.

"He's a f****** animal man, very very talented. Mark Henry was telling me about this kid a long time ago and he was telling me 'I've got a world champion, he's going to be a world champion.

"When Mark Henry tells you that, you've got to listen."

Things kept going well for the Dagestan kickboxer, as he added to his win streak with another three victories over the likes of Jeremy Stephens and Calvin Kattar.

However, suddenly Magomedsharipov was removed from the UFC official rankings in April 2021 due to inactivity, with his previous fight taking place 17 months earlier in November 2019.

Reports later revealed that the young fighter had been suffering from a series of health issues related to his immune system, which required him to undergo career-threatening surgery.

In September 2021 Henry revealed that Magomedsharipov would soon return to the octagon, but this never came to fruition and the Russian ultimately announced his retirement from active competition in June 2022.

Rumours of a spectacular comeback have resurfaced several times since then, but many of them were put to bed in April 2022 when he took to Instagram to announce that he was training to become a doctor.

Although he retired from competing, Magomedsharipov has stayed active within the sport of MMA as a coach and trainer for his brother Khasan Magomedsharipov, who currently fights in the PFL's featherweight division.

But that hasn't stopped Rogan from expressing his disappointment about what ended up happening to Magomedsharipov throughout his career.

Just last year, Rogan spoke about the retired fighter, saying: "That was a guy that f*** man I was really bummed about when he stepped out, when he decided enough is enough.

"That guy was f****** good, he did some wild s***. He was so interesting because he was from Dagestan, but he fought almost like a karate fighter, wild kicks, and he could do anything, crazy trips too.

"He was just so clever and creative and such an interesting fighter to watch. I was bummed out, really bummed out when that guy retired."

Who knows if we will ever see Magomedsharipov fight again, a recent Instagram story from his teammate suggested that he will return 'soon,' but until we actually see him step inside the octagon again, it's best not to get our hopes up.