In a highly unusual move, Dana White has revealed that the promotion will be cutting ties with the undefeated Muhammad Mokaev despite his decision win over Manel Kape at UFC 304 on Saturday night.
Born in Dagestan, but living in Manchester, England, Mokaev is still only 23-years-old, yet has already compiled a perfect 13-0 record, with no less than seven of those coming during a two-and-a-half-year stint in the UFC.
That’s usually the kind of record that would have the sport’s biggest promotion pulling out all the stops to keep them in the UFC, but instead it seems that the UFC matchmakers can’t wait to get rid of him.
“The matchmakers aren’t big fans of his for many different reasons, and not just because [of his fighting style],” Dana White said at the UFC 304 post-fight press conference
“There’s a lot of people who shoot takedowns in this in this business. There are 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 is going to get a great, undefeated guy. Good luck to him.”
Leading into Saturday night’s fight Mokaev was embroiled in an ugly feud with Kape in which he has since acknowledged that he sucker-punched his rival during fight week after asking to take a photo with him, leading to a brief scuffle.
However, there’s more to the story than that as it had previously been reported that Kape had headbutted and elbowed Mokaev at the UFC’s Performance Institute a few months ago, leaving Mokaev with a visible cut on his forehead just a week out from a fight against Alex Perez.
“Five days before my Alex Perez fight, I met with Manel [Kape],” Mokaev said after defeating his rival on Saturday night. “He head-butted me. If you watch my Alex Perez fight, I went to fight with [a] cut, with eight stitches. They stitched up my eyebrow,” explained Mokaev.
“When I went to fight with Alex Perez, everybody thought I was a boring wrestler. But I was shooting to [not risk] opening my cut… in [an] interview, he said once he comes to Manchester he [was] going to do it a second time.
“So, I couldn’t come close to him in the hotel. So I told him, ‘let’s come take [a] picture,’ and once he came over, I dropped him.
“I had to do it, I can’t be bullied. I come from a rough background, my life was tough, I give no sh*t to anyone to bully me.”
Kape is known to be quite hot-headed, so it certainly seems like it took two-to-tango in this instance, but he doesn’t appear to be getting the same cold-shoulder treatment as Mokaev from the UFC in this instance, which does suggest that perhaps there’s even more to the story regarding why he’s fallen out of favor with the promotion.
