SALT LAKE CITY – According to his manager, Muhammad Mokaev is having a hard time finding ranked opposition.
The undefeated flyweight phenom burst onto the UFC scene with a decorated amateur career and five professional bouts under his belt. Mokaev (7-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) notched two UFC wins in the span of four months against Cody Durden and Charles Johnson, and already has his next fight booked.
Mokaev, 22, has a goal of becoming the youngest UFC champion in history, but his manager, Tim Simpson of Paradigm Sports, says not too many people are willing to step up to fight him.
“He’s ready to go,” Simpson told MMA Junkie. “As far as pushing him fast, with that kid, if you said fight (Deiveson) Figueiredo tomorrow, he’d do it, and there’s no exaggeration with that at all. He’s ready to go at the highest level right now. …
“He’s ready to go as fast as we can go. The problem has been finding opponents that are willing to go. He had the Cody Durden fight. Obviously that was amazing, and then we tried to turn around with ranked guys right away. No one in the rankings wanted to fight him. They ended up having to sign someone, Charles Johnson, who was in Contender Series, pulled him out of Contender Series into the UFC, just to find someone to fight Mo.”
Mokaev meets unranked Malcolm Gordon on Oct. 22 at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi. With another win, Simpson expects a number next to Mokaev’s name, which would facilitate his matchmaking moving forward.
“After the back of that fight, we wanted to find someone ranked. It’s just a hard sell right now,” Simpson said. “If I put my shoes of a manager that calls and says, ‘Hey, fight 21-year-old Muhammad Mokaev’ when you’ve got a number next to your name, I’m going, ‘That sucks, too.’ I’ve been on the other side of that. So as far as moving him, he’s ready to go as fast as we can, and I think he gets a third win this year, he should be able to move a bit faster because at some stage, he’s got to break into those rankings.”
