Undefeated flyweight phenom, Muhammad Mokaev recently opened up about his contract situation in the UFC. Exposing the promotion and its ways of restricting a fighter, the 23-year-old dropped some massive truth bombs, essentially uncovering how the UFC treats wrestlers.
Speaking to the media after his UFC 304 bout against Manel Kape, the Russian-born Englishman detailed his precarious position, stating how the UFC forced him to do their bidding. He even insisted that the promotion was keeping his contract extension on ice, and wanted to take a decision based on his performance against Kape, as he said,
“They don’t like this because they try to get rid of flyweights before and they don’t want this kind of fights but listen I’m young, I’m still not in my prime like if they want me to stand and bang and bang toe to toe with 30-year-old grown man, I’ve to do what’s best for me to win.”
Muhammad Mokaev makes his case to be re-signed after #UFC304, and claims he was told to fight with less takedowns.
"They said they're going to see how I perform. They don't want to see me keep shooting and taking somebody down." pic.twitter.com/s8KDxZByLk
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) July 28, 2024
With a stellar record in the promotion, Mokaev is now racking up a pretty impressive streak. Despite being on the last fight of his contract, the Brit proved his mettle and extended his winning streak to seven in Manchester in the preliminary card.
Unfortunately, this record might not get Mokaev the contract extension he desires, and there were even rumors about him being in talks with the PFL. Still, that being said, the young buck did what he set out to do on Saturday, as he settled his differences with Kape inside the octagon, despite their pre-fight brawl.
Mokaev def Kape via judge’s decision
The build-up to Mokaev’s fight against Kape was pretty tense as they tried to get at one another throughout the entire fight week. Even their teams got involved in an all-out brawl before the action started, forcing security to step in.
It seems that the two already had a lot of bad blood between them, stemming from an altercation at the UFC Performance Institute. This coupled with the trash-talk the duo engaged in, made the community expect a bloody war inside the octagon.
However, things were quite different inside the cage. The two had a lackluster fight that eventually saw Mokaev cruise comfortably to a decision victory, snapping Kape’s four-fight win streak, while also calling for a title shot.
