Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Calvin Kattar Should’ve Been Five Rounds
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
I really enjoy writing about Zabit Magomedsharipov. He’s skilled and technical enough that his fights are always exciting to break down, and he’s flawed enough that his opponents usually get an opportunity to have decent showings as well. I don’t necessarily think this makes for a tremendously dominant performer in the long run, but it makes for a must-watch fighter who always does at least one cool thing per bout.
In my previous two articles about the sinewy scarecrow (Part 1, Part 2), I expressed a moderate amount of concern regarding the depth of his striking. From the word go, Magomedsharipov was billed as an absolute whirlwind of striking and grappling; a complete package who would contend in just a matter of time. Beginning as early as Sheymon Moraes, I argued that was not necessarily the case with Zabit.
Plenty of analysts (including many of the folks here at The Fight Site) were picking the Bostonian boxer to give Zabit a lesson with deez hands, but for the majority of the fight, we got a toe-to-toe tactical battle where both men showed some new wrinkles to their games. Each man had their moments and each man had shortcomings on which the other capitalized. The only drawback was the fact that we were robbed of two more rounds right as the fight began heating up.
Denying the Jab
Zabit’s gameplan versus Kattar broadly resembled Moicano’s dominant victory over the Bostonian. The Russian wanted to keep his opponent at long range, kick his legs and body, and mitigate the active jab of Kattar to avoid extended exchanges. Strategically, he also used his length to draw Kattar forward into pressuring. I posited this same dynamic in the roundtable, but a Calvin Kattar without his jab and being forced to pressure is not a good Calvin Kattar.
Every time Kattar feinted with a half-step of his lead leg, Zabit would hop-step back out of range. Notice Zabit (in an open stance matchup) pawing Kattar’s left jabbing hand with his right, and attempting to kick Kattar’s lead leg. By putting the threat of the leg kicks in Kattar’s mind, Zabit is already muting Kattar’s most reliable tool.
Zabit’s lateral movement was quite stout against Kattar, something I’ve argued in favor of in previous articles. Kattar isn’t adept at cutting off lateral movers; particularly ones who can shortchange his jab and mirror his movement.
One of Zabit’s less-heralded qualities is his comfort under pressure and under fire. His tremendous reach insulates a lot of his comfort in these areas, but solid cage craft isn’t something we see enough of in MMA.
When Kattar pressured Zabit, he had to resort to long, lunging combinations that usually fell short. Here, Zabit catches Kattar’s jab with his left hand before attempting to parry the following right hand, and hiding behind his lead shoulder.
In nearly identical fashion to the Stephens fight, Zabit would feint both directions along the fence before committing to one exit path. I like how Zabit drove his left hand in the inside of Kattar’s right hand to block the path of the straight right.
I’ve discussed in previous articles that Zabit’s right hand is mostly used for framing, hand fighting, and stiff-arming, but there were moments against Kattar when Zabit attempted (and even landed) some decent rights.
Zabit takes two hop steps inward, wedging his lead foot into Kattar’s centerline before slipping inside Kattar’s overhand and framing his way out. Kattar attempts a jab, but once again, Zabit slips inside the jab and attempts to counter with a right hand over the top.
Don’t get it twisted, however. Zabit still favors his left hand, jabbing off the hook in this clip as he pushes Kattar back.
It is worth noting that Zabit didn’t land his counters to the jab nearly as cleanly or as consistently as Moicano did, but it ultimately served the same purpose. By putting the threat of the leg kicks and counter rights in Kattar’s head and combining those with sound backfoot mobility, Zabit was able to preemptively force Kattar to think twice before jabbing. Just by giving Kattar information to react to, Zabit deftly shut down the A-game of his opponent.
Contrary to what I just wrote, this was probably the most potent moment of offense in the round for Magomedsharipov. By fighting hands and folding over his lead hip, Zabit was able to draw Kattar’s responses before countering them. Kattar commits to a 3-2 with a leaping step-in. Zabit pulls off the 3, and kicks out the inside of Kattar’s lead leg with all his weight planted on it.
New Wrinkles
Not only did Zabit approach Kattar with a thoughtful, strategic gameplan, there were specific tactical moments that served him quite well here. Most notably of which included hitting Kattar’s body, often along the fence.
Weird entry. Standing orthodox, Zabit shifts into an outside angle on his orthodox opponent with a backward up-elbow before weaving under it. Kattar attempts to counter with a left hook over the top, but Zabit has already proactively woven underneath and outside of the punch, loading up the left hook to the body. Shane Burgos looked to cut off Kattar’s rightward exits along the fence with the very same punch.
Thrown as a simultaneous counter to the jab, Zabit slips inside and throws an overhand right. Kattar also slips his opponent’s punch. Similar to Yoel Romero, Zabit converts his overhand into a collar tie, bringing his rear leg forward (squaring his stance), before slinging another left to Kattar’s body.
Kattar eventually found success counterpunching Zabit’s entries. As previously stated, Kattar struggled to close down the rangy, mobile opponent, but when Zabit came to him, Kattar found his mark.
Zabit pushes Kattar back by pumping his jab and pressuring him in a straight line. Kattar takes a slight rightward step with his rear leg before countering with a right hand over the top. This presented a subtle angle on Zabit where the Bostonian was slightly outside of the jab and Zabit couldn’t see the right hand coming.
Had Kattar begun countering Zabit’s jab earlier, he might’ve be able to walk away with the win. Zabit’s jab is decent, but it’s not terribly diverse. Once Kattar got the timing of Zabit’s feinted entries, he was able to counter with the overhand with relative ease.
When Kattar played more of an in-out game against Zabit, a lot of his offense opened up. Here, he paws at Zabit with a throwaway jab to draw Zabit’s hands up. Kattar then steps in with a left hook that doesn’t land cleanly, but manages to herd Zabit into the right hand. Zabit attempts to counter the left hook with a jab, but Kattar’s right hand lands over the top of Zabit’s lead hand before pivoting off his lead leg. Another quick jab lands for Kattar before Zabit can counter over the top. Kattar continues moving laterally to diffuse the inside leg kick from Zabit.
Kattar ultimate figured out that to get his jab rolling, he needed to be quicker on the draw and preemptively prepared for the return fire. Here, he lands a less committal jab before hop-stepping back out of range, already preparing to catch Zabit’s own jab in his hands. To conclude the exchange, Kattar feints up high with a jab, and body jabs a half-beat behind it.
Kattar isn’t a particularly deep defensive fighter, but he is a very crafty opponent with good eyes and composure. If an opponent is landing a consistent punch on Kattar, he will do his best to adapt and get out of the way the next time. Similar to some of his reactions against Burgos, Kattar utilized stance switches as a defensive option for keeping Zabit from closing him down.
Zabit steps in with a ducking jab. Kattar creates an angle with his rear foot by stepping outside of Zabit’s lead foot, and folding over his rear hip before hop stepping away from his opponent’s planted leg. Now against a southpaw opponent, Zabit steps in to the inside angle again, and Kattar transfers his weight to his opposite foot once more. Pivoting off his left (now lead) leg, Kattar regains his orthodox stance.
Third Round Pattern
Toward the end of the second round and into the third round, Zabit was visibly slowing once again and Kattar began turning up the volume. This is a legitimate pattern for the Russian that might be the single biggest knock against the contender.
Counterpunching Kattar is the best Kattar. Here, he doesn’t bite on Zabit pumping his double jab throwaway, instead slipping outside Zabit’s committed straight right with a pair of uppercuts. A strong jab concludes the exchange.
The more tired Zabit got, the weaker his cage craft got as a result. Kattar began timing Zabit circling left by doing the same herding tactic described earlier. Throwaway the left hook to run Zabit into the right hand.
In perhaps the strongest exchange of the fight, Kattar lands a left hook and gets Zabit ducking under the follow-up right hook. Kattar wisely puts very little into the right hook before sitting down on a second left hook that catches Zabit by surprise. Zabit’s feet in this exchange are also concerning. Instead of pivoting as he’s weaving under the right hand, Zabit keeps his feet together, meaning he’s unable to reposition. When the second left hook finds its mark, it breaks Zabit’s stance.
Zabit’s defense didn’t fall by the wayside in the third, fortunately.
As I pointed out in our roundtable, Zabit is broadly similar to Moicano, but one of the defining strengths he has over the Brazilian is comfort under fire. Zabit is pretty mobile in the pocket, and he is much better at seeing incoming punches + responding accordingly.
While Kattar found success attacking the body in the third, Zabit’s fundamentals were still mostly in place. His ability to close the door with his left hook saved him in a few exchanges when Kattar really got rolling.
Once again, however, it is a testament to Kattar’s adaptability that he was more prepared to pull off Zabit’s left hook when he finished throwing. Kattar figured out the counter, and began attempting to take it away.
In the end, it was too little, too late, but it spoke to Kattar’s experience and depth of skill that he was able to give Zabit a few late scares. Not to belabor this point, but seriously: This fight needed two more rounds.
Conclusion
I will reiterate something I noted in The Fight Site’s roundtable predictions: Zabit is quite a good fighter. Maybe a better fighter than most of our staff wants him to be. That doesn’t mean he’s flawless, nor does that mean he’s a hype train waiting to crash. He, like all fighters, has defined strengths and weaknesses, and his opposition will likely dictate how he performs. Kattar was a stiff test, and Zabit passed. He didn’t crumble against a formally more technical striker, but he also didn’t exactly run away with the victory either. It was a debatable win. Better than nothing.
Zabit vs. Kattar was a great featherweight fight, and one of the better clashes I’ve seen in 2019. For almost two rounds, Zabit fought the absolute best technical fight of his career. The skill disparity between the two men was pretty narrow. It was mostly a product of Zabit’s strategy being better suited for three rounds, whereas Kattar had to adjust in the fly after falling behind early. A lack of committed body punching early hurt Kattar in the long run, but Zabit’s tendency to run out of ideas managed to cost him late as well.
It was a stock-up fight for both men, and I hope someday we get to see them run this back in a proper main event slot.