Flyweight fighter Muhammad Mokaev has a bit of controversial beef with UFC following his win at the UFC304.
The fighter faced Manel Kape and beat his opponent following a unanimous decision but the two had an altercation before the fight. Mokaev admitted to sucker-punching Kape at the fighter hotel, and upon seeing the reaction to the incident. ‘The Punisher’ took to X to make a statement:
“This is the first time I punched outside the cage. It was more personal. He was the one who head-butted five days before Perez’s fight when I went to shake his hand in Vegas! I understand this is wrong what happened at the hotel, and I apologise to the UFC, but there’s some nights I didn’t sleep because someone treated me like that. And I have never been cheap shot on the streets.”
“I will never let anyone bully me, and I never bullied anyone, but whatever happened, it happened, I don’t want to keep going about it. But I will take a big lesson from it!”
This altercation was seen as having an ulterior motive, as rumours were going around about Mokaev being in talks with PFL. An insider at UFC shared some news on why Mokaev was released from the promotion.
“Essentially, he was trying to use the number from PFL as leverage. That caused the UFC to say, “F**k that, go to the PFL.”
Despite these rumours and a sarcastic jab from White, Mokaev and his team have denied these reports. The fighter has always been vocal about his commitment to the UFC despite being the lowest-paid fighter in the UFC. Mokaev was eager to win his previous fight and wanted to renew his contract.
“I’m on the last fight [of my contract] with UFC. This is my last fight on my contract, and I need to put on a good performance to negotiate the new contract. It depends on my performance. I want to chase the gold, and I hope the UFC give me a contract. I just want to fight for the belt. Even if they give me one more fight after this. I’ve had six fights. I already have more finishes in the UFC [than others].”
Despite his vocal loyalty to the promotion, the rumours have been confirmed. Mokaev was removed from the latest UFC ranking. The fighter appealed to the UFC on his social media page.
“My dream is to become UFC Champion. I turn them all down because UFC gave me the platform to put my name out there and earn money to feed my family! Btw PFL doesn’t have a flyweight division. All these journalists that make this shit up are idiots! I hope Dana resigns me, this is my dream to become champion.”
Although Dana White has not released a statement, it appears Mokaev is truly out of the promotion. However, given his impressive undefeated record, it shouldn’t be too long before another promotion picks him.
