Zabit Magomedsharipov (photo via UFC)

By FCF Staff

Zabit Magomedsharipov has worked his way into top five of the UFC’s 145 division, and recently his coach, Ricardo Almeida, discussed what he would like to see next for the fighter.

Magomedsharipov is coming off a memorable, decision win over longtime contender, Jeremy Stephens, in March. The win moved the 28-year-old’s overall record to 17-1, and his UFC record to 5-0. Currently Magomedsharipov is ranked #5 in the UFC’s featherweight division.

Recently the fighter’s jiu-jitsu coach Almeida, talked with MMA Fighting about Magomedsharipov’s next bout. While doing so, Almeida said this:

“It could be Jose Aldo, it could be (Brian) Ortega. Yair (Rodriguez) is a great kid, but I don’t think he’s at Jose Aldo’s or Ortega’s or (Alexander) Volkanovski’s level yet,” Almeida said. “To me, fighting any one of those guys would be the path for him to get prepared to a title fight against Holloway or Volkanovski.”

“There’s a huge difference between guys ranked at No. 6 or 10 and top 3 fighters, guys who have fought for the belt or are former champions,” Almeida said. “It’s like rolling a dice, you never know what will happen, you can win or lose. I want Zabit to gain more experience against someone at that level, someone that will try to kill his game, who trains in a big team that will really prepare him to capitalize on Zabit’s flaws. (Zabit) will gain experience by going there and beating someone like that.”

Volkanovski is expected to challenge champion Max Holloway next; however, no date for the bout has been set.