claiming that the \u201cmatchmakers aren\u2019t big fans of his.\u201d<\/a> White added that it wasn\u2019t once incident involving Mokaev but plenty of \u201cbad shit\u201d that resulted in the promotion opting not to offer him a new contract.<\/p>\nNow competing for BRAVE CF with a flyweight title fight booked on Nov. 7, Mokaev isn\u2019t necessarily holding onto any animosity, but he never appreciated that his reputation took such a hit from the way he left the UFC.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what got me upset, if you do something wrong, you don\u2019t get upset,\u201d Mokaev explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. \u201cYou get what you deserve. But when you don\u2019t do something, what you\u2019ve done, what you\u2019ve been shown in media as a bad guy, that was what got me upset. I don\u2019t care about this contract, or about anything. But something that\u2019s not true cannot come out like this and ruin somebody\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m a bad guy, I\u2019m a hard guy to deal with, you don\u2019t keep that guy for seven fights in your organization. You kick him out straight away. I\u2019ve been renewed with a UFC contract twice while I was there with a better purse, of course. If I\u2019m a bad guy, straight away you kick him out. That\u2019s how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n
BRAVE officials have praised Mokaev as a total professional when it comes to his behavior in the organization, which is one of the reasons why he was brought back so quickly after his UFC deal ended.<\/p>\n
Mokaev believes that says a lot about him personally but he knows that BRAVE wasn\u2019t the only organization seeking his services after he left the UFC. Despite claims that there was no interest, Mokaev revealed that PFL absolutely reached out, and offered him a fight, but the logistics didn\u2019t work out for him to sign there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m a bad guy, BRAVE would never bring me back to the organization, especially like when PFL said \u2018we don\u2019t want him\u2019 and then BRAVE also could say \u2018we don\u2019t want him,\u2019\u201d Mokaev said. \u201cFor example, PFL said we don\u2019t want him but at the same time it wasn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got messages from PFL, too. They actually offered me to fight Patchy Mix for the belt. They offered me to step into the Grand Prix on short notice, 10 days, I accepted but I couldn\u2019t get a working visa on the right time. That\u2019s what got me upset. I haven\u2019t done something that should put me in the media as a bad guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since his run with the UFC ended, Mokaev rarely goes a day without somebody tagging him on social media about potentially returning to his old stomping grounds.<\/p>\n
With current UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja largely running roughshod over the competition, an undefeated contender like Mokaev seems like the perfect foil to bring back at some point.<\/p>\n
Whether that happens or not remains to be seen but the 25-year-old fighter appreciates that so many people are still supporting him no matter what happened in the UFC. Mokaev is also quick to point out that despite what\u2019s been said about him publicly, he\u2019s not holding onto any rage or anger towards the UFC<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fighting back for my dream,\u201d Mokaev said. \u201cThat\u2019s why a lot of people [are saying] \u2018we need to get you back, we need to get you the belt.\u2019 That\u2019s why I\u2019m still going with my career. Financially, today I can finish my career and chill with my family and travel around the world. Only reason because I have people\u2019s back, people support [me] and the real people who know me from outside of fighting, they\u2019ve still got my back. My reputation has never been ruined by the people who actually knew me, knew me before UFC and after UFC. UFC helped me to build my brand, helped me to get on my feet. I didn\u2019t have a house, I was renting a house. Now I have everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of one thing they said in the media doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re bad people. They give me a seven-fight platform to fight on the biggest cards in the world. They paid me. There was no problem between me and them personally. I\u2019ll still be thankful, it doesn\u2019t matter if they [re-sign] me or not. They put me on the map and now BRAVE is continuing building me as a brand and saving the division.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a weird twist, Mokaev recognizes that the way he left the UFC might have actually made him an even bigger star in the sport so a potential return would certainly grab a lot of headlines.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not losing sleep if that doesn\u2019t happen, but Mokaev promises he\u2019s not in the business of burning bridges, which is how he returned to BRAVE and how he\u2019s keeping the door open to a potential UFC reunion as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the UFC releasing me made my name even bigger,\u201d Mokaev said. \u201c[Anyone] who didn\u2019t know me, they found out about I\u2019m 7-0, got cut the first time in history and it made me even bigger.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I come back, I think all eyes are going to be on the flyweight division. BRAVE champion versus UFC champion.\u201d<\/p>\n
As much as the UFC conversation still happens, Mokaev makes it clear that he\u2019s very happy competing in BRAVE and he doesn\u2019t expect that to change any time soon. Mokaev knows the promotion respects and appreciates him plus the financial benefits have definitely been nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unfinished business [in UFC],\u201d Mokaev said. \u201cI imagine the belt around my waist and that\u2019s how I feel in my mind. [But] I know I\u2019m the highest-paid flyweight in the world right now. That\u2019s how BRAVE treats me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can go to their office any time, talk to the president Mohammed Shahid. We talk about more about business than actually fighting. We sit down in the office for two or three hours sometimes, it\u2019s 20 minutes away from my apartment here in Bahrain. They will support me in anything I do in my life. I don\u2019t want to look past my next fight, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Muhammad Mokaev has moved on with his career after a contentious exit from the UFC when the promotion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-247960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}