SPEW ✕ UFC
One hurl of a recovery after Punisher pukes
MUHAMMAD MOKAEV is accustomed to having to do things the hard way – with only a flight of stairs slowing his progress to the top of the flyweight division.
The undefeated Wigan star, who arrived in the UK as a 12-year-old refugee from Dagestan in 2012, claimed his sixth straight win in the UFC when he outpointed Alex Perez in Las Vegas.
‘The Punisher’ pushed his claims for a shot at the 125lb title, despite a difficult fight camp and throwing up in the morning of his bout.
Mokaev said: “I came out to fight after feeling very sick. I had a full staph infection coming up to this fight and had to have antibiotics. I also had visa issues.
“I went through all that and so the cage is the easy part for me mentally. But, outside of that, I had so many things going on. The main thing was to turn up.
“The night before the fight I had a sore throat and then in the morning I was throwing up. But I still went outside and did some running, some light rounds and then ate and slept.
“My team said, ‘You have seen tougher things in your life, so do your thing.’ Of course I wasn’t myself but the main thing is turning up for the fight.”
Victory over former title challenger Perez was not the first time Mokaev has faced and overcome adversity in the octagon.
Last March in London, the 23-yearold was clamped in a tendon-tearing kneebar by Jafel Filho that would have caused the majority of fighters to tap out. Instead, Mokaev somehow escaped and turned the fight around to win with a neck crank late on.
The Brit added: “I am working on improving – I am only 23, 6-0 in the UFC. Apart from Jon Jones, I don’t know who else has been on such a winning streak at this age.
“Remember when people said, ‘He will never be back after what happened with his knee.’ I have had two fights back to back against top-10 opponents. And that knee wasn’t something you can just get past.
“For two weeks I couldn’t even get up to go to the toilet in my house. I had to drive somewhere. “I went to McDonald’s a couple of times because I couldn’t walk upstairs.
“But I proved to people that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
Flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja is now firmly in Mokaev’s sights, with the former amateur wrestling stand-out saying: “Anyone the UFC offers me I am ready to fight.
“If it is not a title fight, I am here to fight the best of the best in the world. It doesn’t matter who they bring.”