UFC London Fighter to Watch: Muhammad Mokaev
One of the top prospects in the sport seeks his second straight UFC win on home soil this weekend in his toughest test to date
Name: Muhammad Mokaev
Nickname: The Punisher
Record: 6-0, 1 NC overall; 1-0 UFC
Division: Flyweight
Team: American Top Team
Opponent: Charles Johnson (11-2 overall, UFC Debut)
Muhammad Mokaev is a classic five-tool prospect.
The 21-year-old is a multi-time IMMAF world champion, wrestled internationally with reasonable success and Olympic ambitions, and has gone undefeated through the first 30 appearances of his mixed martial arts career, combining his amateur success and unblemished run since turning pro.
He has quickness and moves well, is a plus athlete with suddenness and explosiveness, and his wrestling is the kind of elite skill that heāll be able to rely on in dicy situations as he continues to work his way forward in the flyweight division. Heās faced a mixed collection of competition during his amateur and pro careers, earning two wins over Reo Yamaguchi on the amateur circuit, plus victories over Blaine OāDriscoll and Cody Durden since turning pro, but how Mokaev handles each increasing step up in competition will help determine how quickly he can move up the ranks and which areas the promising prospect will need to continue working on most in order to reach his goal of claiming UFC gold.
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There is a great deal to like about Mokaevās promotional debut in March and how he acquitted himself against Durden.
Despite coming in with a ton of hype and attention focused on him and competing in the first bout of the night in London, the kid from Wigan (by way of Dagestan) walked out to the cage with a smile on his face, looked composed as hell while getting introduced by Bruce Buffer, and got Durden out of there in 58 seconds.
The finishing sequence underscores why Iām so high on Mokaev as a prospect, as he closed the distance and hit Durden with a clean jumping, step-in knee. To his credit, the American instantly looked to wrestle, collecting Mokaev and hoisting him into the air, but Mokaev had already begun attacking a guillotine choke, and once they hit the canvas, he worked to adjust his grips, rotating with Durden as he looked to wriggle free, securing the tap.
Generally speaking, 21-year-old kids arenāt supposed to waltz into the Octagon and run through established UFC talents like Durden in under a minute in their promotional debuts; it just doesnāt happen, for myriad reasons, but when it does, we really should pay extra special attention to it and the athlete that authored the performance.
There is no way of downplaying the value of going through multiple IMMAF amateur world championships and wrestling at the international level for Mokaev, as those things have prepared him for competing on the biggest stage in the sport in a way nothing else can. He was completely unbothered stepping into the spacious UFC Octagon in March and relished getting a fist-bump from Buffer as he was being introduced, which is often a time where newcomers start experiencing a case of the āOh Fucksā because hearing theyāre named boomed out by the guy in the flashy suit makes the realness of the situation sink in and take root.
But Mokaev, he smiled, gave a wink to the camera, and then put Durden away in under a minute, proving he belongs and validating his advanced billing in one blistering performance.
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Saturdayās return to London is a second opportunity for Mokaev to show where heās at in his development and readiness to rise through the flyweight rankings, as Charles Johnson is no joke.
The 31-year-old is 11-2 overall and enters on a four-fight winning streak, with three of those four victories coming inside the distance. Heās got a little wrestling in his back pocket and earned one of the Tiger Muay Thai scholarships a couple years back, training alongside the likes of Petr Yan before returning home and connecting with fellow Missouri native Joaquin Buckley, he introduced him to Joaquin Murcielago and his crew in Michigan.
Heās been in big fights āĀ his last three LFA appearances where championship bouts āĀ and his only two losses have come against quality competitors Sean āShorty Rockā Santella and Brandon Royval, who currently sits at No. 5 in the UFC flyweight rankings. Though this weekend is a road game and his promotional debut, weāve seen enough from Johnson over the last couple fights to safely assume he wonāt get rattled by being on the big stage and fighting in hostile territory this weekend, which is why I love the fight for Mokaev; at least from an assessment standpoint.
I talk all the time about wanting to see competitors tested on the way up and getting the opportunity to make reads about their progression and development at each step, and a fight like this should afford me that opportunity on Saturday.
Letās see what a few months training at American Top Team has added onto Mokaevās game or bolstered in his arsenal, and letās see how he does sharing the cage with someone 10 years his senior that has climbed to the top of a quality Triple A promotion like LFA, who has a little bit of everything to throw at him this weekend, including some power.
How this one plays out and how Mokaev looks over the 15 minutes or less the fight lasts will go a long way to help further refine projections regarding the 21-year-old uber-prospect and his eventual ascent up the flyweight rankings.
Mokaev wants to go as fast as possible and has talked about fighting for the title in the next couple years.
Fights like this weekendās clash with Johnson will help show whether that is a realistic goal or not, but even if itās going to take five years instead of two, Mokaev profiles as someone that is going to be a contender for quite some time and someone that could very well one day wear UFC gold.