Muhammad Mokaev, the biggest prospect in the sport around the world, has recently thrown a bombshell on his health difficulties following his UFC 280 victory over Malcolm Gordon, revealing that doctors nearly pulled him out of the bout due to a ‘crazy temperature’.
“The Punisher” appeared to be weak at times against Gordon, but with his confidence and physical strength, he thwarted Malcolm “X” Gordon through submission in the third round of their flyweight preliminary card fight at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
The young British prodigy moved to 3-0 in the organization and is still aiming to become the youngest champion in history.
The Russian-born 22-year-old admitted that his preparation was hampered as an explanation for his unsatisfactory performance.
This picture for my haters, sometime I have to make them happy but only for 2 seconds 😂😂😂
But I know next time they still tune in and watch my fight 🤍 pic.twitter.com/CxSMxWX1Hz— Muhammad Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev) October 25, 2022
He depicted the fact in an interview saying: ‘I can say this because my team saw this, about 10 days before the fight I had a crazy temperature.” Adding further he went on to say, “I spoke to my manager and team, and they said maybe we can ask to do catchweight with this fight, or maybe pull out. I said, ‘Listen, please, no,’ I talk to doctors, I’ll take antibiotics.”
Mokaev later asserted strongly that a 50% performance would be enough to defeat any opponent.
“My concentration level went down because of the antibiotics. If you go to training on antibiotics, they’ll understand what I’m talking about. I’ve had this in the past in my career and I got through it. Even with 50 percent of who I am performance-wise, I still beat these guys. I would [still] beat any of these top 15 guys. That wasn’t my 100 percent performance.”
The British Star approaches each bout full of confidence and wild predictions of quick victories. That is why fight fans see him as one of the greatest young fighters of all time.
As regards to what Mokaev wants next, he keeps mentioning Brandon Royval, who is now scheduled to compete in the UFC’s 2022 finale on December 17 versus Amir Albazi.
