Wigan's Muhammad Mokaev not prepared to give up on 'my UFC dream'
Wigan's Muhammad Mokaev has not given up on his UFC dream - despite being cut by the promotion following his latest victory in Manchester on Saturday night.
The former Deanery and St John Rigby student, who turned 24 on Tuesday, extended his win streak to 13 after securing a unanimous points victory over Manel Kape.
However, minutes after the decision, UFC chief Dana White told a stunned press conference that Mokaev - who arrived in Wigan from Dagestan as a refugee in 2012 - would not be given a new contract.
Later in the day, Mokaev took to social media, where he offered gratitude for all the support he'd been offered by well-wishers who had been shocked at the turn of events.
"Thank you to all my true fans that supported me from the beginning!" he tweeted. "I see you all."
He followed that up by tweeting: "Undefeated 37 fight winning streak," with the names of each of his victims during his stint in the UFC.
"Tim Elliot (Top 10), Manel Kape (Top 10), Alex Perez (Top 10), Jafel Filho, Cody Durden (Top 15), Charles Johnson, Malcom Gordon."
On Tuesday, Mokaev's manager, Tim Simpson, was forced to shot down the rumour that part of the reason for Mokaev's departure was because he had been negotiating with rival promotion PFL (Professional Fighters League) – which had upset UFC bosses.
Quoting the tweet, Mokaev added: "My dream is to become UFC champion. I turned (other promotions) all down because UFC gave me the platform to put my name out there and earn money to feed my family! Btw, PFL doesn’t have a flyweight division. All these journalists that make this s**t up are idiots! I hope Dana resigns me, this is my dream - to become champion!”
White had hinted during Sunday morning's press conference that a factor in the UFC's decision had been a series of incidents in the lead-up to Mokaev's fight against Kape, in which the former admitted to 'jumping' the latter in the hotel.
Mokaev, in turn, claimed his actions had been provoked by Kape's previous conduct.
"I understand, this is wrong what happened at the hotel and I apologise to the UFC," Mokaev said. "But there's some nights I didn't sleep because someone treated me like that.
"I will never let anyone bully me and I never bullied anyone, but whatever happened, it happened. I don't want keep going about it but I will take big lesson from it."
During Mokaev’s own press conference on Sunday, he intimated that senior figures at UFC had been critical of his style, and that if he 'stopped shooting for takedowns', he'd have a better chance of being kept on.
Which only provoked a sarcastic response from White.
"Yeah, that's what we tell guys, we tell them how to fight...we've been doing this for a very long time..." he said.
"Look, I'm sure one of the matchmakers probably said something to him or whatever, but the matchmakers are not paid fans of his...for many different reasons. There's a lot of guys who shoot takedowns in the business, a lot of guys who fight with that style, but it's a lot more than just that."
Mokaev has already been removed from the UFC's flyweight rankings.