Rodriguez: Missing out on Zabit fight 'does sadden me'

Yair Rodriguez is disappointed that a matchup with Zabit Magomedsharipov apparently wasn't meant to be.

Rodriguez and Magomedsharipov were booked to face off in a highly anticipated battle of UFC featherweight contenders twice between 2018 and 2020, but the bout was canceled on both occasions.

Now, it's almost guaranteed that the fight will never occur after Magomedsharipov's retirement from mixed martial arts in June due to health issues.

"It does sadden me a bit due to the fact that there was a lot of talk - especially him," Rodriguez told MMA Junkie's Danny Segura in Spanish, as translated by Segura. "He said a lot of things. It's sad to not be able to finish something that was started.

"Either way, I don't have any resentment toward him. I hope that he does very well in whatever he decides to do. If he's injured or sick, I hope he recovers, and I wish him the best."

Rodriguez returns to the Octagon on Saturday to take on Brian Ortega in the UFC Long Island main event with a title shot against Alexander Volkanovski potentially on the line.