It’s been 15 months since Muhammad Mokaev was tossed out of the UFC despite going 7-0 with the promotion, and the top flyweight is finally expressing some anger over the situation.
In the immediate aftermath of the UFC’s very public announcement that they would not re-sign Mokaev following the conclusion of his contract, Mokaev was extremely suppliant. He denied speaking to other promotions, he offered to fight for free, and when that didn’t work he still declared that getting back into the UFC was his top priority.
Despite a lack of fresh contenders at 125 pounds, the UFC hasn’t budged on the Mokaev position, and now “The Punisher” is pushing back against their claims that he was ‘hard to deal with.’
“If I’m a bad guy, I’m a hard guy to deal with, you don’t keep that guy for seven fights in your organization,” Mokaev told MMA Fighting. “You kick him out straight away. I’ve been renewed with a UFC contract twice while I was there with a better purse, of course. If I’m a bad guy, straight away you kick him out. That’s how it works.”
That’s not exactly sound reasoning. Mokaev was involved in multiple brawls with Manel Kape leading up to his final fight with the promotion, including a situation where he lured Kape to a meeting — ostensibly so they could make peace — only to jump him.
In today’s UFC, that’s not enough to get you fired. But “Punisher” committed the ultimate sin by fighting extremely safe and cautious, winning his last two UFC fights in an extremely boring way. After all the brawls, people expected fireworks with Kape. When the Mokaev vs. Kape fight was another dud, the UFC had enough.
The UFC also accused Mokaev of trying to leverage a move to PFL in negotiations for a new contract. Mokaev denied this at the time, but now confirmed the PFL was interested.
“PFL said we don’t want him but at the same time it wasn’t true,” he said. “I’ve got messages from PFL, too. They actually offered me to fight Patchy Mix for the belt. They offered me to step into the Grand Prix on short notice, 10 days, I accepted but I couldn’t get a working visa on the right time.”
”That’s what got me upset. I haven’t done something that should put me in the media as a bad guy.”
Mokaev has gone 2-0 in MMA and 1-0 in Karate Combat since leaving the UFC, with two of those wins coming via finish. If there’s anything that will earn him a path back into the UFC, it’s more of those.
