Mohammed Mokaev improved to 7-0 inside the Octagon with his win at UFC 304, but it appears his fight will be his final with the organization.
Following his unanimous decision win over Manel Kape on Saturday, Mokaev revealed that his current contract with UFC is up and he is looking to sign a new one, claiming that his performance against Kape will likely determine his future, and that UFC officials told him they “don't want to see me continue to attack and take somebody down.”
After the event, UFC CEO Dana White responded to Mokaev's comments, confirming that the 23-year-old prospect will not be offered a new contract to remain with the promotion.
“Yeah, that's what we tell everybody. We teach everybody how to fight,” White said of Mokaev. “We've been doing this for a long time. I'm sure some matchmaker said something to him. Matchmakers aren't fans of him for a variety of reasons. There are a lot of guys in this business who go for takedowns, a lot of guys who fight that style, but it's not all about that.”
“He's no longer under contract. I think the PFL is going to get a great unbeaten fighter. I wish him the best of luck.”
Mokaev may not be the most exciting fighter in the UFC, but White said the flyweight's issues with the organization go far beyond his grappling-heavy style inside the cage.
This includes multiple past incidents with Kape, when the two fighters got into a brawl at the UFC Performance Institute and then again at the host hotel during fight week in Manchester. The latter incident blew up when Mokaev told Kape they were going to take a photo together and then openly admitted to sneaking the former Rizin champion around before both teams stepped in to separate the two.
White didn't go into specifics, but said there wasn't just one reason why Mokaev hasn't returned to UFC, and that there were a number of issues surrounding his dismissal.
“There was a lot of really bad stuff going on behind the scenes of that incident, not good stuff,” White said.
“Listen, what has happened here in the last few months [UFC Performance Institute] And then there's this story that broke and a bunch of other stories that they don't want to re-sign him.”
As for the bout itself, Mokaev and Kape didn't put up much of a fight inside the cage, despite the latter swarming the cage to isolate the two fighters before the actual bout began. Once both flyweights were released from their respective corners, Mokaev and Kape barely engaged with each other and there was no significant action through three rounds.
In the end, Mokaev won by decision, but it wasn't enough to keep his UFC job.
Additionally, Whyte wasn't the least bit surprised that the feud between Mokaev and Kape didn't produce an entertaining fight to settle the rivalry.
“This is one of those classic fights,” White said. “We've seen this for years. Five minutes after he says, 'I want to get to you now… I'm going to kill you,'” he said. [pass by] And then we don't do anything for the first five minutes of the game. That's how we expected the game to play out. That's how it's played out historically.”
