While flyweight super prospect Muhammad Mokaev was dominant in victory this past weekend, he understand why fans would think his performance wasn’t aesthetically pleasing.
Mokaev improved to 2-0 in his young octagon career with a lopsided decision win over Charles Johnson at UFC London. According to “The Punisher”, he heard many people describe the fight as boring, which he also agrees with.
“I’ll agree myself, it was boring,” Mokaev explained on The MMA Hour. “It was boring, but I did what I could. He is 10 many years older than I am and he isn’t somebody who is ***.. Brandon Royval, who is currently ranked No. 6 in the UFC at flyweight division — he had a decision [loss] against Royval. He is a strong kid. And that’s it, I thought I had done good.”
The 21-year-old kicked off his UFC run with an emphatic 58-second submission win over Cody Durden at the promotion’s return to London in March. Mokaev landed a vicious knee that badly hurt Durden, which ultimately led to the guillotine choke finish.
In his latest bout, Mokaev leaned on his suffocating wrestling game, completing an astounding 12 takedowns in 26 total attempts. While most fighters are hard on themselves, Mokaev is satisfied with his showing against a tough opponent, and believes when the opportunity comes to fight for the flyweight title, fans will be saying something much different.
“I’m happy. I’m happy with the victory,” Mokaev said. Listen, people will always talk. They’re always going to say, ‘This is boring.’ If I get knocked out, if I do something wrong, they’ll say, ‘Oh, he’s s*** striker. He should’ve wrestled where he’s best at,’ and stuff like this.
“I’ll do what’s good for me and when I take the belt people will say, ‘He’s the youngest champion.’ That’s what they’ll say.”
