Muhammad Mokaev stored his undefeated 13-0 (1 no contest) document intact at UFC 304, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to maintain his job this previous weekend (July 27, 2024).
The highest Flyweight contender revealed forward of his grudge match with former RIZIN Bantamweight champion, Manel Kape, that their bout can be the final on his UFC contract. In the end, Mokaev’s unanimous resolution victory wasn’t sufficient for the promotion to wish to begin new negotiations.
UFC CEO, Dana White, instantly shut down the concept of Mokaev returning to the promotion after the win, exclaiming that “PFL goes to get an amazing undefeated man.” The feedback and willingness from UFC’s boss to half methods with a surging 24-year-old prime fighter caught many locally off guard. White did allude to the numerous points Mokaev introduced within the lead as much as the struggle, such because the pre-fight scuffles with Kape, on prime of its underwhelming nature.
In line with multi-sport commentator, Ben Davis, there’s extra to the story, says a longtime enterprise accomplice near Mokaev.
“Mokaev and his administration workforce tried to test on what PFL would pay properly earlier than his final struggle on the deal,” Davis’ supply stated of their screenshotted direct messages. “UFC received wind of this and thought of it the final straw of why they weren’t going to re-sign. It’s why Dana talked about, ‘PFL is getting undefeated man.’
“Primarily, he was making an attempt to make use of the quantity from PFL as leverage,” they concluded.
If Mokaev finally ends up signing with PFL, he’ll possible have to maneuver as much as the Bantamweight division because the promotion doesn’t at the moment have Flyweight. That’s until they have been to do singular bouts at 125 kilos only for the Manchester, England resident.
