Muhammad Mokaev is one of the UFC's brightest talents, but his journey to the promotion was tougher than any of his fights.
The 21-year-old was born in the town of Buynaksk, Dagestan. The country has bred some of MMA's finest fighters over the years, such as UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, with Mokaev being the latest of a talented bunch.
Mokaev admitted that he has good memories of his birthplace despite it being a poverty-ridden town, stating: "It is a poor place, people’s wages are maybe £100-£150 a month, where as in the UK you can earn this a day. The prices on the products went up but the wages still stayed low," he told Mirror Fighting .
"I have good memories. There’s bad memories everywhere, but I just let it go because you have to live with positivity in this life. There’s too much negativity going around.
Following the tragic passing of his mother, Mokaev emigrated to the UK when he was 12 years old after his father had political issues with the country. He and his father were placed in a refugee camp in Liverpool upon their arrival, being given just £5 a day to get by.
"I came to the UK with nothing and it was difficult. I didn’t have the connections that people who were born here have, so I had to build everything over 10 years. I was in Liverpool for 30 days and then they decided where they were going to send you. They looked at who you are as a character and then send you to the area where you should be located."
Much to his surprise, Mokaev and his father were moved to Wigan after their first month in the UK. Mokaev felt out of place as the area was predominantly inhibited by English people at the time. He couldn't understand why the Home Office had relocated him to the town.
“Wigan, there’s not many refugees there. When I came I didn’t see anybody from other parts. It was probably 80 to 90 per cent English people living here. I thought ‘why didn’t they send us to Manchester or Liverpool?’. Maybe because I was young they wanted me to grow up with English society around? I’m not sure what the Home Office was up to, they were the ones deciding."
The Home Office played a big role in Mokaev's fighting career by moving him to Wigan. This is because he stumbled across the Wigan Youth Zone in his teenage years, a state-of-the-art facility that offers young people access to extracurricular activities.
"There was nothing else to do in Wigan until they built this youth centre, called Wigan Youth Zone. There was a wrestling session from 6-7pm and boxing straight after from 7-8pm, I did both together and we used to have competitions between the boxers and wrestlers."
Adapting to life in the UK was hard for Mokaev. He admitted there was a big culture shock after moving from Dagestan and would often get into fights at school. Teachers told him to ditch his dreams of becoming a professional fighter, but Mokaev promised his father that he would turn his hobby into a career.
"I was telling him all the time, of course there’s some professional fighters who are working full-time. I knew in wrestling and grappling there is no money, in MMA you have to make a little bit of noise.
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"The way to make noise in my language and mentality, I couldn't swear and go too far to get hype like some other fighters out there. I wanted to make noise with my results."
Five years ago, the Home Office told Mokaev he was being deported back to Dagestan. But in a sudden turn of events, he received a UFC contract shortly after the bad news and was given his UK citizenship the very next day.
Mokaev's promotional debut earlier this month at UFC London couldn't have gone any better as he submitted Cody Durden in just 57 seconds to put the flyweight division on high alert. It was Mokaev's seventh professional win after going unbeaten in 23 amateur fights.
'The Punisher' is on track to becoming the youngest champion in UFC history. Mokaev has until the end of March 2024 to beat Jon Jones' record, who won the belt at 23, and the British prospect is confident he will be matched against a top-five ranked opponent after two more wins.
"I think two more fights and they will give me a top three or four [ranked] guy. When I fight somebody [higher ranked] I perform even better. I can beat many top ten guys, but I want to deserve this spot and not just get it because of my hype."
