Muhammad Mokaev reveals talks with PFL for Kyoji Horiguchi fight, explains why he’s hesitant to sign with them

UFC Fight Night: Volkov v Aspinall — Muhammad Mokaev | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Muhammad Mokaev’s masterplan to return to the elite of the sport involves staying active and beating whoever is put in front of him.

Mokaev walked through Joevincent So in his first post-UFC fight in December 2024 at BRAVE CF. He went on to knock out Bolat Zamanbekov under Karate Combat rules, and now returns to MMA on June 14 for a fight with Alisher Gabdullin at 971 FC 2 in Dubai.

Mokaev almost booked another fight for FCC 42 on June 7, a week before the 971 clash, but “maybe it’s a bit too late”. Later this year, Mokaev said he wants to go back to BRAVE CF anytime between June and September to face the winner of May 30’s Jose Torres vs. Dias Yerengaipov for the company’s flyweight championship.

“I just want to stay busy because I train all my life, I don’t have like a training camp and all this stuff,” Mokaev told MMA Fighting. “For me, it’s make weight and that’s it, I’m ready to go against anyone in the world. I competed in IMMAF, amateur world championships, and I fought every day, so this is nothing new to me.”

Mokaev almost booked a major match for later this year, though. One that would have convinced him to put all those other offers on hold.

“In September [2025], I was supposed to fight against Kyoji Horiguchi in PFL,” Mokaev said. “PFL offered me this fight, September in Dubai. And then I see the news he got signed back to UFC. I don’t shy away from the challenges. Kyoji Horiguchi, he and [UFC champion Alexandre] Pantoja are the best flyweights in the world right now. I would say Manel Kape too, by the skills. I would pick these three guys, toughest of his challenges I could face in the MMA. So I was thinking, if I beat Kyoji, I’m back in the rankings again. And he goes sign to the UFC.”

Horiguchi vacated the RIZIN title and parted ways with the Japanese promotion to return to the UFC, being booked for a UFC Baku main event with Tagir Ulanbekov. Horiguchi was pulled from the June 21 card later due to undisclosed reasons.

PFL doesn’t have a flyweight division. According to Mokaev, however, “PFL said they’re willing to the open flyweight tournament if I join them.”

“They’ve been good to me, to me to be honest,” Mokaev said. “They said, whatever you want, you’re welcome. But I just don’t want to stuck in the contract, that’s the problem. I respect all organizations, but I just don’t want to get stuck in any contract. I understand from the company’s side too, they invest in you, they put everything promoting you and then you just [say], ‘Thank you for letting me use you. I’m going.’ They know what my goal exactly and I’m not lying to anyone. I’m saying, listen, I’m here to put my performance and get back in the world rankings. I don’t want to lie and [say] I never want to go to UFC. You promote me, I’m going to use your money and then one day just go. I’ll go straight forward, you know?”

Mokaev went undefeated in both professional and amateur MMA bouts, combining 35 matches. At 24 years of age, he quickly became a top contender in the UFC, but was let go by the promotion after UFC CEO Dana White mentioned that UFC “matchmakers aren’t big fans of his for many different reasons.”

“I did some mistakes, whatever happened,” Mokaev said. “We are humans. I believe the matchmakers and everybody in their life at the age of 22, 23, under so much pressure, so much pressure I had at my age, maybe they would do more mistakes or maybe less, you know? We are all human. I learned from it. I don’t think that’s the issue right now. I just need to show my hands, my striking, and we’ll get back in talking with them. On the media, maybe they say it’s hard to work with me, but I don’t know. I did seven fights, and it wasn’t hard to work with me, but once I get come close to the title, I’m hard to deal with. I don’t know how that works. You know, if you’re hard to work with, you get kicked out from your first fight.”

For now, Mokaev focused on adding wins to his record. He signed a one-bout deal with Mounir Lazzez’s promotion 971 FC, and will continue inking one-fight deals until he gets where he wants. That doesn’t mean he’s looking past Gabdullin or any other opponent he faces going forward, a harder task after each victory.

“I don’t underestimate people,” Mokaev said, “But we had 14-0 opponent for this event coming and Mounir, the matchmaker, messaged me saying he’s out. He didn’t do his medical on time. People say they’re willing to fight me, they’re ready to smash me, they don’t say no, and then they don’t do medicals on time on purpose. Or if they do medicals on time, they ask for like crazy amount of money that organization won’t pay them, so organization like say, ‘No, we’ll get another guy.’ That’s my problem right now in my career. People might think like I’m fighting somebody not my level. Of course I’m not going to fighting on my level, I beat seven guys in the UFC.”

“I think [Gabdullin is] a good opponent. This should be confidence, and not underestimating opponent. You have to find this balance. Even for Karate Combat, I was walking out, I had exactly same feeling what I did walk out in UFC. I should be aware these guys coming to take — basically if they beat me, that’s it. They don’t need to do 20 fights anymore, they just beat me. That’s why I should stay focused. That’s why I’m training every day.

“I think he’s well-rounded. He has a little bit of everything. And he’s ex-Octagon champion, which in Kazakhstan is right now the biggest promotion. I think he has 15 wins and four losses, so he’s got more wins than me in professional career. It means I’m not looking down on somebody. In my head, all fighters are the same. Alisher can throw exactly the same 1-2 as me, and he knows how to shoot the double leg, but how you’re going to feel on the fight night, that’s I think I have more confidence than all these flyweights.”

Getting his first knockout in nearly five years at Karate Combat gave Mokaev extra confidence to show a more diverse aspect of his game in Dubai, and maybe speed things up when it comes to returning to the UFC.

“Now I’m more excited to put my striking performance there,” Mokaev said of his Karate Combat finish. “It gave me like believing in my striking abilities more. I don’t need to go shoot for takedown. Like, I go out, strike. If something doesn’t go into my plan in striking, I always gonna have plan B with my eyes closed. But now I need to go out and put some risk as well, not just like waiting for myself. Put entertainment for the people, too.”

Muhammad Mokaev reveals talks with PFL for Kyoji Horiguchi fight, explains why he’s hesitant to sign with them

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