{"id":660285,"date":"2026-05-09T18:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T18:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660285\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T18:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T18:12:12","slug":"muhammad-mokaev-off-netflix-mvp-mma-card-phumi-nkuta-steps-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660285\/","title":{"rendered":"Muhammad Mokaev Off Netflix MVP MMA Card, Phumi Nkuta Steps Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" class=\"entry-thumb webpexpress-processed\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Muhammad-Mokaev-1-scaled-e1722107460877-696x464.jpg\"   alt=\"Muhammad Mokaev\" title=\"Muhammad Mokaev\"\/>Muhammad Mokaev, UFC 304 official weigh-in Credit: Patrick McCorry\/Cageside Press<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s been a late shake-up to the MVP MMA card on Netflix later this month.<\/p>\n<p>Muhammad Mokaev (16-0, 1NC), a former UFC flyweight and undefeated talent released by the UFC under controversial circumstances, was to have faced Adriano Moraes (21-6) at the event on May 16, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>However, with Mokaev encountering visa issues, it\u2019s Phumi Nkuta stepping in to take his place.<\/p>\n<p>News of Nkuta\u2019s involvement was first reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mma_kings\/status\/2053099652015063532\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">MMA Junkie\u2019s Nolan King<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Per Mokaev, his visa wasn\u2019t rejected, he simply wasn\u2019t given an appointment in time to secure it. He also revealed that he had warned Moraes of the possible complication weeks ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFour weeks out I texted my opponent, I did my full camp, visa wasn\u2019t refused, just couldn\u2019t [find] appointment slots,\u201d Mokaev<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/muhammadmokaev\/status\/2053114164449517642\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> stated on social media<\/a> in response to the news.<\/p>\n<p>Nkuta (11-0) has won titles in Cage Fury FC and Urijah Faber\u2019s A1 Combat. He\u2019s long been considered a prospect at flyweight, one with serious UFC potential, but has yet to been given a shot by the promotion.<\/p>\n<p>Moraes is a former ONE Championship champ best known for his series with flyweight great Demetrious \u201cMighty Mouse\u201d Johnson. He\u2019s the first and only fighter to stop Johnson, in the pair\u2019s first encounter in 2021. Johnson would win the following two fights in their trilogy.<\/p>\n<p>MVP MMA 1 airs on Netflix on Saturday, May 16, 2026 with Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano headlining. Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins and Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry also feature on the card.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Muhammad Mokaev, UFC 304 official weigh-in Credit: Patrick McCorry\/Cageside Press There\u2019s been a late shake-up to the MVP&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,12059,4736,786,15810,15803,11877,15805,801,10280,785,2843,15808,5963,15804,15809,85,15806,787,15807],"class_list":["post-660285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bellator","tag-conor-mcgregor","tag-fighting","tag-gsp","tag-invicta","tag-jon-jones","tag-lfa","tag-martial-arts","tag-mixed-martial-arts","tag-mma","tag-one-championship","tag-one-fc","tag-pfl","tag-rizin","tag-ronda-rousey","tag-sports","tag-titan-fc","tag-ufc","tag-wsof"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}