Muhammad Mokaif’s struggle to beat ranked competition continues.
Unbeaten, Mokaev started out 4-0 in the UFC era and has aspirations of becoming the youngest champion in UFC history. The 22-year-old, who suffered a partial tear of his MCL in his win over Javel Filho last March, is hoping to either land a London card in July or UFC 292 on Aug. 19 in Boston.
Mokaev (10-0-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) has been active, but his inability to get a rated flyweight has slowed his quest for gold, much to his frustration.
“It’s very difficult right now,” Mokaev said. “believe me” Podcast. “When I was unclassified, I beat Cody Durden in under 50 seconds and after that, I beat LFA Champion Charles Johnson, Malcolm Gordon, Javel Filho, who came out of the Contender Series. Those guys are 10 years older than me. I’m now ranked 12, people. They don’t want to fight me, ranked guys. Now the ranked guys say, “Go fight another fight,” and then if I beat someone else, they’ll say, “You still fight unranked guys.”
Mokaev tried to take matters into his own hands by sending direct messages to Matt Schnell and Tim Elliott, who both booked fights in June. Mukayev said they both accepted if they emerged from their battles unscathed, but he wouldn’t count on that.
Mokaev has also publicly gone back and forth with Manel Kape and Brandon Royval, who is currently the backup in the flyweight title fight between champs Brandon Moreno and Alexander Pantoja at UFC 290 on July 8.
“Manel Capi, for example, did not accept a fight against me,” Mokaev said. He’s ranked ninth, he’s 3-2 in the UFC, but he said, ‘You’re not on my level. “What should I do if these guys don’t want to fight me. How can I not be his level if he loses to all the ranked players.”
Speaking of Royval, Mokave compared their performance against common opponent Charles Johnson.
“Brandon Roivale also said you’re not at my level, but Charles Johnson made a split decision against him,” said Mocaev. “I’ve recorded the most takedowns in UFC flyweight history against Charles Johnson. It was 12 takedowns and I think 26 attempts, but Charles Johnson did eight takedowns on Brandon Royal. So, I think I knocked those guys down, but they found some stupid excuse. If I’m that easy, if my heart is bad, and Jujitsu is bad, why don’t you come and take 34 consecutive fights with a bang.”
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