The UFC recently showed the door to the undefeated flyweight fighter, Muhammad Mokaev. But why? On one side of the story, we had people speculating that maybe the promotion was fed up with Mokaev’s fighting style. However, on the other side, Dana White appeared to reveal that it had nothing to do with it.

Instead, other speculations suggested that ‘The Punisher’ was looking to make more money, partaking in negotiations with rival promotions behind the UFC’s back. But Mokaev has shut those rumors down. In a recent tweet clarifying his exit from the UFC, Muhammad Mokaev denied that he or any of his team members ever had the audacity to go behind Dana White’s back to engage in “sneaky stuff.” 

“Some people actually believes that my team was negotiating with other organisation while I was in the UFC because I needed more money! Nobody from my team did this sneaky stuff,” Muhammad Mokaev stated in a now-deleted tweet. In fact, Muhammad Mokaev also wanted to silence those critics, who claim that all he thinks about is making money. Estimated to make around $20,000 for each fight, Mokaev fought Alex Perez, and most recently, Manel Kape this year. However, he revealed that he failed to make any money in 2024, but not by any fault of the UFC.

“This year I fought 2 time(s) and still haven’t received money from the UFC, not because UFC not sending me, they’re always sending money on time. It’s just me who didn’t sent them bank details yet. So, what I mean is I wasn’t chasing money in my career, I just been in and out from camps to fights to earn the title shot,” Muhammad Mokaev added.

It’s important to note that even Muhammad Mokaev’s manager, Tim Simpson, echoed the same sentiment after rubbishing all rumors about negotiations while still under contract with the UFC. However, the ship has sailed for the 23-year-old, and Dana White claims there’s no one to blame but Mokaev himself.

Muhammad Mokaev ‘did it to himself’, claims Dana White

Muhammad Mokaev’s UFC departure has been a hit topic of late as the flyweight star’s been actively talking about it on social media. However, Dana White recently claimed that “it is what it is” with the 23-year-old. While addressing the media after DWCS 67, The UFC CEO claimed that Mokaev rubbed important people like Hunter Campbell and the other matchmaking officials the wrong way.

“He’s just a guy that did everything wrong and pi**ed these guys off. I wasn’t involved in any of the stuff that happened with him… the matchmakers and Hunter [Campbell] were, and they weren’t happy with him. They weren’t happy with the way he acted. They weren’t happy with a lot of things he did and said,” Dana White stated. The only thing now that the UFC boss believes Muhammad Mokaev can do is regret putting himself on the promotion’s blacklisted fighters.

Fighter pay has always been a big issue in the UFC, but there’s hardly an instance when we get to hear that a fighter has been left unpaid after a fight. That’s not an action that most people associate Dana White with. Nevertheless, do you believe Muhammad Mokaev is telling the truth? Drop your comments below.