About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MuhammadMokaev believes the Ultimate Fighting Championship is unfairly damaging fighters'careers. The UFC has drawn criticism for declining to renew the contracts offighters on winning streaks. Mokaev claims some athletes have beenwarned to change their wrestling-heavy styles or risk losing theirroster spots, raising questions about the fairness and competitiveimplications of such an approach.
FaridBasharat (16-0) recently completed his contract and wasn'toffered a new deal despite going 7-0 in the promotion. UFC CEO DanaWhite suggested that difficulties with matchmakers or declinedfights could explain such departures without identifying a specificincident involving Basharat. Mokaev believes those comments candamage fighters' reputations and prospects after leaving theUFC. The former UFC fighter questioned whether warnings about fightingstyles improperly influence competition. He also urged thepromotion to avoid making disparaging claims about departingathletes. "When fighters are getting phone calls from bosses telling them,'If you keep wrestling like that, you're going to get cut,' thenyou're basically telling fighters how you want them to fight. Atwhat point does that cross the line?" Mokaev posted on X. "Isn'tthat influencing the competition? And if you want to release afighter, fine. But don't then publicly say he was 'hard to dealwith' or create some bullsh*t narrative about him that could damagehis reputation and make other organizations think twice aboutsigning him. Release fighters if you want. Just don't try to damagetheir careers on the way out." Mokaev (17-0, 1 NC) left the UFC after the promotion declined torenew his contract following a victory over Manel Kape in July 2024. The unbeaten former UFC flyweight has since earnedfour victories outside the organization.
Source: Sports
