Muhammad Mokaev picked a new fight on Tuesday, and this time the guy across the cage is a front office.
The former UFC flyweight contender wrote on X that fighters are getting phone calls from their bosses with a blunt message, and he typed it out in quotes: “If you keep wrestling like that, you’re going to get cut.” Mokaev didn’t say who made the calls or who received them, so file it as his allegation until someone with a name attached backs it up. His follow-up landed anyway: “At what point does that cross the line? Isn’t that influencing the competition?”
Then he moved to the argument he can actually win. “Release fighters if you want,” he wrote. “Just don’t try to damage their careers on the way out.”
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He’s right about that second part, and the UFC handed him the evidence.
The Basharat Problem
This all traces back to Farid Basharat. The 29-year-old bantamweight walked out of his contract at 16-0 overall and 7-0 in the Octagon, ranked in the top 10, with wins over Jean Matsumoto, Chris Gutierrez, Taylor Lapilus and, most recently, John Garza at UFC 329 in July. He earned his deal on the Contender Series in 2022. The UFC didn’t bring him back.
After UFC Edmonton on Saturday, Dana White was asked why. His answer, per MMA Fighting, was that “either guys aren’t good to deal with and the matchmakers don’t want to deal with them, which could be turning down fights or whatever the reasoning is.” Then came the line that blew up: “If you’re 16-0, with seven wins in the UFC and don’t get re-signed, there’s definitely a reason.” White didn’t elaborate, and nobody asked a follow-up.
That’s a riddle where the answer is printed on the back of the card. Six of Basharat’s seven UFC wins went to decision. He had one finish in the promotion. Basharat himself said in a YouTube video that he doesn’t fit where the company is heading, adding, “I think they’re trying to go for brawlers, spill your blood whether you win or lose type of stuff.”
If style is the reason, fine. Say style. Telling people the company wants finishes and his fights don’t move the needle would be cold, but it would be honest, and plenty of fans would nod along. Saying a guy isn’t good to deal with is a completely different accusation. One says a fighter is boring. The other says he’s a headache, and that tag follows him into every negotiation with every promotion that might want him next.
Basharat pushed back hard. He said he never turned anybody down, pointed to a 2024 fight in Abu Dhabi where his opponent missed weight by 10 pounds and he took the bout anyway, and said he fought on the Contender Series through a torn MCL in his elbow. He also wrote that after his last fight he was never offered a contract or an opponent, and that he went about three months without hearing from the UFC. He told White to ask his own staff.
Mokaev Has Skin in This
Let’s be fair about the messenger. Mokaev was allowed to walk in 2024 after a flat win over Manel Kape at UFC 304, and White’s explanation back then was, “There was so much bad shit that happened behind the scenes.” Mokaev had several altercations with Kape before that fight, so in his case the “behind the scenes” line at least had public footage to point at.
That actually makes his Basharat point sharper. Nobody has put forward a single Basharat incident. When White first floated the idea on Saturday, Mokaev tweeted that it was a “Total bulshit answer” and said he blamed Paramount and TKO rather than White personally. He’s watching the same move get run on a guy with no rap sheet, and he’s calling it out.
The Phone Call Is the Scary Part
I’m the last person to lecture anyone about wanting violence. I love a finish. I love a guy who calls his shot and backs it up. Bonuses for exciting fights are fine. Matchmakers booking brawlers against brawlers is fine. That’s promotion.
But if Mokaev’s claim is accurate, and again it’s unverified, that’s a company telling athletes that a legal, scoring tactic could cost them their jobs. Takedowns count on the scorecards. Threatening a fighter for using them is reaching into the game itself, which is exactly the line Mokaev drew.
And the roster logic doesn’t hold up under any single theory. Michael Page went 5-1 in the UFC, won in Paris and didn’t get re-signed in September. Daniel Marcos was removed this year at 18-1. Meanwhile Tai Tuivasa is still on the roster on an eight-fight losing streak. Losing doesn’t get you cut and winning doesn’t keep you. Being fun to watch apparently does, which again is a defensible business call if somebody would just own it out loud.
Basharat noted that the UFC is guaranteed $7.7 billion over the next seven years, then shrugged and asked what he knows. Fair enough. The money’s going to be fine either way.
Basharat is a free agent now, and the PFL is an obvious landing spot since his older brother Javid already signed there after his own UFC exit. Whoever makes that call to his manager will have White’s “definitely a reason” clip rattling around in their head before the first offer goes out. That’s the career damage Mokaev was talking about, and it cost White one sentence at a press conference.
