Over his first 12 months (and six days) on the roster, Magomedsharipov earned four victories, pushing his overall winning streak to an even dozen, adding three post-fight bonuses and one finish that had him in the running for Submission of the Year. He was the complete talent Henry spoke of — a guy who transitioned from striking to grappling and back again without pause, doing it all while looking like a young, sleepy Abraham Lincoln.
Whenever a fighter receives as much hype and attention as Magomedsharipov did, there are going to be those looking to poke holes in his sails and slow his progress, and if there was one knock on the ultra-talented Dagestani featherweight, it’s that he was beating up on competition that didn’t appear to be in his league.
Each of his first two opponents were making their first trips into the Octagon at the time of their fights, while his third and fourth foes, Kyle Bochniack and Brandon Davis, had combined for three wins in seven starts.
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But the emerging contender silenced those doubters and made it perfectly clear that he was, in fact, an elite talent back in March, stepping into the cage with tenured veteran Jeremy Stephens at UFC 235, where he walked away with a unanimous decision victory.
“That victory was of paramount importance to me and my career,” he said of the win over Stephens, who has been a fixture in the featherweight Top 10 for the last five years and is universally regarded as a dangerous test for any up-and-coming hopeful. “It was my first fight with a top UFC fighter and it gave me motivation to train even harder.”
