Muhammad Mokaev‘s abrupt departure from the UFC was one of the most shocking incidents in recent times. At UFC 304, Mokaev defeated Manel Kape in a grudge fight that most people found boring. Despite the win, Dana White and the UFC did not re-sign him to the roster.
After that, Muhammad Mokaev apologized for his actions and claimed he would fight for free in the promotion. However, the UFC and its top brass had no intentions to take him back. In a recent presser, the UFC head honcho mentioned that the matchmakers were annoyed by the fighter and didn’t want to deal with him.
He is just a guy that did everything wrong and pissed these guys off…They weren’t happy with the way he acted, they weren’t happy with a lot of things he did and said…You did it. You put yourself in this position.
Dana White via Contender Series’ presser
While firing Muhammad Mokaev, Dana White mentioned that the PFL would like to have an undefeated fighter. However, the PFL president publicly rejected the English fighter for the same reason that Mokaev was hard to deal with. Mokaev did his best to save his dream of becoming the UFC champion, but it wasn’t enough to revive his UFC career.
Dana White reacts to Muhammad Mokaev saying he’d fight for free in the UFC:
“[Mokaev] is just a guy that did everything wrong and pissed these guys off…
They weren’t happy with the way he acted, they weren’t happy with a lot of things he did and said…
You did it. You put… pic.twitter.com/U44yo0qpfo
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 14, 2024
Many UFC superstars, including Aljamain Sterling, also backed Mokaev’s decision to fight for free money. Similarly, top UFC heavyweight and Mokaev’s old friend, Tom Aspinall, also talked about UFC letting go of Mokaev. Aspinall felt it was bad for UFC to cut an undefeated and talented fighter for such a mild incident. However, according to many other UFC stars, it was a justified action taken by the UFC.
Rising UFC lightweight Chase talks about UFC’s decision to cut Muhammad Mokaev
Ahead of his fight with Manel Kape, Muhammad Mokaev had an altercation with a Portuguese fighter. The flyweights fought in front of the fighter’s hotel in Manchester. After the official fight, Mokaev accepted that he sucker punched Kape after asking him to take a selfie.
Chase Hooper supports UFC’s decision to remove Muhammad Mokaev (via Imago/Instagram)While discussing the incident, top flyweight contender Steve Erceg showed his disappointment towards Mokaev’s actions. Erceg also mentioned that the undefeated fighter frequently mistreated the UFC staff. This took the attention of Chase Hooper, who came in support of the UFC staff.
Like I mentioned before I’ve never had a single negative experience dealing with UFC staff. They’ve always went well out of their way to be polite and helpful, especially when you consider how much some of them have to travel. They’re all great from my experience and treating them poorly is definitely a reason why UFC might not keep you.
Chase Hooper via X
Like I mentioned before I’ve never had a single negative experience dealing with UFC staff. They’ve always went well out of their way to be polite and helpful, especially when you consider how much some of them have to travel. They’re all great from my experience and treating… https://t.co/n5qyKRcABH
— Chase Hooper (@chase_hooper) August 5, 2024
Thank you to all organisations that reached out to me
Brave CF, Rizin, PFL, Karate Combat, ACAI appreciate for believing in me, now I will sit down with my team and take the best option not on money wise but that could let me go back to the UFC ASAP! #M57 #KHKmma pic.twitter.com/ZMOij4irC6
— Muhammad Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev) August 10, 2024
Muhammad Mokaev doesn’t seem to be greatly bothered by his firing. The fighter was recently in Abu Dhabi, enjoying his time off from training camp. The flyweight fighter also shared some memes about being undefeated yet unemployed. Mokaev has also mentioned that many top promotions, such as Brave CF, Rizin, etc, had reached out to him following his separation from UFC.
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