Muhammad Mokaev appears to have escaped serious injury following his UFC 286 flyweight bout with Jafel Filho.
Mokaev (10-0, 1NC) came away from the London-based event with a neck crank submission win of his own, but not before he had to escape several tight sub attempts by Brazil’s Filho. Among them, a particularly painful looking kneebar that left the 22-year old Mokaev unable to fully support his own weight, with his left leg appearing to be badly damaged.
That Mokaev managed to turn things around and win the fight was impressive; avoiding surgery is a stroke of pure luck. The Dagestani-born Brit revealed on social media that he suffered only a “partial MCL tear, Grade 2” in the bout.
“6-8 weeks I will be back training,” Mokaev added in a separate post. “Thank you for all your messages, I received crazy amount of the support about my knee! It’s a strap season for me and my people!”
Mokaev entered the UFC as one of the hottest prospects in years, and has lived up to every bit of the hype he carried with him. Not only has the youngster started his professional career unbeaten, but his amateur run is practically unparalleled — he went 23-0 as an ammy, winning the 2020 IMMAF WMMAA OCEANA Championships in the process.
While he has no opponent booked, Mokaev has expressed an interest in returning to action in July.
