Muhammad Mokaev did everything that could be asked of a young fighter. At just 24, the former British national wrestling champion is undefeated in his seven fights in the UFC, which includes four ranked opponents. The ethnic Dagestani was being seen as a potential title challenger, with his UFC 304 clash against Manel Kape (which he won) supposed to put him over. Instead, ‘The Punisher’ was insulted by UFC CEO Dana White and was cut by the UFC. However, Mokaev is predictably very upset at being fired from the world’s premiere MMA promotion and has been trying to mend the fence in hopes of being re-signed.

The reason Muhammad Mokaev seems to have been cut from the UFC seems to be twofold. One is that the UFC matchmakers are not happy with his ‘boring’ takedown-heavy fighting style as Mokaev told reporters after UFC 304. Meanwhile, the second reason is his behavior outside the octagon. The Englishman of Dagestani origin has brawled with Manel Kape twice, once outside the UFC HQ earlier this year and then again in a hotel lobby days before their UFC 304 clash.

The two almost came to blows again at the UFC 304 weigh-ins, and then again inside the octagon before their fight started. And ‘The Punisher’, crestfallen at having to leave the UFC, where he wants to be champion, took to X to explain his recent bad behavior and even apologized to the UFC, vowing to learn from the experience.

“This is first time I punched outside the cage, it was more personal. He was the one who head butted 5 days before Perez fight when I went to shake his hand in Vegas! I understand, this is wrong what happen at the hotel and I apologise to the UFC, but there’s some nights I didn’t sleep because someone treated me like that , I never been cheap shot on the streets I will never let anyone bully me and I never bullied anyone, but whatever happened it happened, I don’t wanna keep going about it but I will take big lesson from it!” he said.

While the aforementioned reasons may have been enough reason for the UFC to let Mokaev go, it seems there was more going on behind the scenes. Even the UFC CEO’s salty comments at the Englishman may have provided clues to these going ons.

PFL move may be behind ‘The Punisher’s unceremonious UFC exit

Dana White had hinted that there was “a lot more than” the matchmakers being unhappy with Mokaev behind the latter getting the axe. He had even taken a petty shot at the Englishman and his biggest competitor, quipping that “PFL’s going to get a great undefeated guy.” And it turns out that the PFL reference may not have been a mere catty comment by White, but has a deeper significance.

According to multiple reports, Mokaev may have been negotiating with the PFL to get some leverage for his contract extension talks with the UFC. This apparently incensed Dana White & Co., who chose to cut him partly because of this. However, Mokaev rubbished these claims in a post as he pointed out that the PFL doesn’t even have a flyweight division.

The fighter wrote on X, “My dream is to become UFC Champion I turn them all down because UFC gave me the platform to put my name out there and earn money to feed my family! btw PFL don’t have flyweight division All these journalists that make this shit up are idiots! I hope Dana resigns me, this is my dream to become champion!”

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