Muhammad Mokaev moved to 7-0 in the octagon with his win at UFC 304, but it appears that will serve as his final appearance in the organization.
Following a decision victory over Manel Kape on Saturday, Mokaev revealed that his UFC contract was completed and he hoped to get a new deal done. He claimed his performance against Kape would likely determine his future, and that UFC executives told him “they don’t want to see me keep shooting and take somebody down.”
Following the event, UFC CEO Dana White reacted to Mokaev’s comments and confirmed the 23-year-old prospect will not be offered a new contract to remain in the promotion.
“Yeah, that’s what we tell guys. We tell guys how to fight,” White said of Mokaev. “We’ve been doing this for a long f*cking time. I’m sure one the matchmakers probably said something to him or whatever. The matchmakers aren’t big fans of his for many different reasons. There’s a lot of people who shoot takedowns in this business, a lot of guys that fight with that type of style. But it’s a lot more than just that.
“He’s not under contract anymore. I think the PFL’s going to get a great undefeated guy. Good luck to him.”
While Mokaev may not be the most exciting fighter on the roster, White says the flyweight’s problems in the UFC go far beyond his grappling-heavy style in the cage.
That includes numerous incidents in the past with Kape after the fighters got into a brawl at the UFC Performance Institute and then got into another altercation at the host hotel during fight week in Manchester. The latter incident exploded after Mokaev openly admitted that he told Kape they were going to take a photo together and then sucker-punched the former RIZIN champion before their teams intervened to pull them apart.
White didn’t get into specifics but said Mokaev not coming back to UFC isn’t solely about any one thing, but instead a multitude of issues led to his dismissal.
“There was so much bad shit that happened behind the scenes with that thing. Not good,” White said.
“Listen, the stuff that played out here over the last several months that started at the [UFC Performance Institute] and other stories of this breaking out, plus many other things. These guys don’t want to re-sign him.”
As far as the fight itself, Mokaev and Kape didn’t produce many fireworks in the cage despite a slew of security guards flooding the cage to keep the fighters separated before the action actually got started. Once the flyweights were released from their respective corners, Mokaev and Kape barely engaged and there wasn’t much action over three rounds.
In the end, Mokaev won a decision, but that still wasn’t enough to save his UFC job.
To add to that, White wasn’t the least bit surprised that the bad blood between Mokaev and Kape didn’t produce an entertaining war to settle the rivalry.
“It’s one of those typical kinds of fights,” White said. “We’ve all seen this before over the years. ‘I can’t wait to get to you … I’m going to f*cking kill you,’ and then five minutes [pass by] and they don’t do anything for the first five minutes of the fight. We kind of figured that’s how that fight would go. Historically, that’s how they go.”
