Muhammad Mokaev faced Jafel Filho in a UFC 286 prelims bout Filho caught Mokaev in a kneebar in round 3 causing a Grade 2 MCL tear. Mokaev did not tap and won the bout with an RNC submission
Mokaev suffered from a grade 4 AC tear in his shoulder before the event. AC Type 4 injury causes severe pain, limited mobility, and weakness.
Typically the Shoulder injury is more likely to require surgery than the MCL tear. In many ways, Mokaev was lucky to have gotten off without a meniscus tear on an ACL tear – both of which would require surgeries.
Now he’s chirping on twitter and looking for a chance to advance in rankings.
Brandon Royval seems like an easy target for him considering he just secured an impressive finish this past weekend at UFC Kansas.
This would be a Chimaev sized leap in the rankings considering Mokaev is looking to leap from number 12 to number 4.
Mokaev offered his purse to Royval in exchange for accepting the bout in October.
Royval wasn’t so keen considering he’s in close proximity to a title shot. Royval was also irked recently to be placed on the prelims considering he’s quite interesting to watch.
This placement also meant Brandon’s incarcerated brother wasn’t able to watch him compete because he was on ESPN plus and apparently they only have ESPN in prison.
Mokaev faced real adversity against Jafael Filho but despite that he offered a reply to Royval, sharing that his one decision win came after setting the record for number of takedowns (in the division).