Muhammad Mokaev Sends Message to Dana White After New Title
Muhammad Mokaev sent a message to Dana White after adding another championship to his résumé outside the UFC. The unbeaten flyweight pointed back to the UFC CEO’s old line that he could become a champion somewhere else, then listed the titles and finishes he has stacked since the promotion let him go.
Mokaev posted the video on social media after winning the ACBJJ championship on Sunday at ACBJJ 22 in Istanbul. He defeated Moris Boleian by decision and tagged White in the same post.
“Dana said 2 years ago – ‘he can become champion somewhere else’,” Mokaev said.
White’s actual comments went further than that. After Mokaev’s unanimous decision win over Manel Kape at UFC 304 in July 2024, the UFC declined to renew his contract despite a 7-0 run inside the promotion.
White later said matchmakers Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard, along with UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell, did not want to keep working with him. “He is a free agent,” White said. “I mean, he could be a world champion somewhere else.”
Mokaev is now 17-0 with one no contest. He left the UFC as one of the most highly regarded young flyweights on the roster, then went back to work on the international circuit instead of waiting on a callback that never came.
He reminded White what that stretch has produced.
“I became Brave CF champion, I became ACBJJ champion, I won 5 fights with 4 finishes within 2 years,” Mokaev said. “Staying busy, staying active and showing the world why I’m the best flyweight in the world.”
The Brave CF claim is already on the record. Mokaev won the promotion’s inaugural flyweight title in November at Brave CF 100, knocking out Gerard Burns with a head kick and punches eight seconds into the second round in Bahrain.
His MMA work since the UFC exit also includes a first-round brabo choke of Joevincent So at Brave CF 91, a unanimous decision over Thomas Assis at 971 FC 2, and a 42-second TKO of Jorge Calvo at WOW 31 in June. He also scored a flying-knee knockout in his Karate Combat debut in May 2025.
That run is why the 26-year-old is still forcing the conversation. He did not ask White for a UFC return in the new video, but the tag made the audience obvious.
“I’m gonna keep grinding I’m still 26,” Mokaev said.
Age is the part of this story that still matters most. Mokaev turned 26 on July 30, which leaves him in the middle of his prime and younger than most of the names who have rotated through the UFC’s 125-pound title picture since he was cut.
The UFC flyweight division has moved on without him. Joshua Van holds the championship and is booked to rematch former titleholder Alexandre Pantoja in the main event of UFC 331 on Sept. 19 in Los Angeles.
Mokaev’s argument is that the work outside the Octagon has already answered White’s challenge. He is the Brave CF flyweight champion, he now holds an ACBJJ title, and he has stayed active across MMA, karate, and grappling while remaining unbeaten in mixed martial arts.
Whether that changes anything in Las Vegas is a different question. White has not publicly revisited the Mokaev situation since repeating in early 2025 that the UFC did not want to re-sign him, and there has been no response to Sunday’s post.
The cut was never about his record. White framed it as a behind-the-scenes issue with how Mokaev dealt with the matchmakers and the front office, while Mokaev has said the problem was finding opponents who could beat him and that his grappling-heavy style made him a difficult matchup.
Two years later, the results are harder to ignore than the politics. Mokaev has kept winning, kept collecting belts, and kept putting his name in front of the man who told him to go become a champion somewhere else.
No next MMA fight has been announced. The immediate statement is already on tape, and the next move belongs to Mokaev’s camp, Brave CF, or the UFC if White ever decides the flyweight he pushed out the door has done enough to come back.