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PFL wants Mokaev to keep their name out of his mouth as he continues to seek a new home after the UFC dropped him.

The PFL wants you to know they have no interest in signing Muhammad Mokaev.

Mokaev was very publicly dropped by the UFC following the completion of his contract at UFC 304, with CEO Dana White implying he was difficult to deal with on multiple levels. Rumors have swirled on what exactly he did — was he rude to UFC employees? Was it the non-stop brawling with Manel Kape? The terrible cage fight with Kape that followed? Or was it because Mokaev was in talks with PFL before his UFC contract was up?

All of these are credible possibilities, and while Mokaev admits maybe White heard through the grapevine that he’d been talking with PFL, he claimed he hadn’t been.

PFL also took the unusual step of attacking Mokaev, with president Ray Sefo declaring “Apparently he’s just a pain in the ass to deal with. So no, we’re not interested.”

“Of course you gonna say this,” Mokaev replied on X (formerly Twitter). “I never accepted you deals. Nice move!”

Reports have Mokaev leaning towards a return to Brave CF, the promotion he fought for en route to UFC. But in a new tweet, he suggested he had a number of options to choose from.

“Thank you to all organizations that reached out to me: Brave CF, Rizin, PFL, Karate Combat, ACA,” he wrote. “I appreciate for believing in me, now I will sit down with my team and take the best option not on money wise but that could let me go back to the UFC ASAP!”

This time it was PFL’s Mike Kogan who shut down Mokaev’s claim of an offer.

“This story is a lie,” he wrote on social media. “No one from PFL or Bellator spoke to the dude or showed even an ounce of interest.”

The PFL clearly wants the world to know they’re not interested in Mokaev, and at this point the denials are hitting conspicuous levels. If the promotion had been talking to Mokaev before his UFC contract officially ended, that could constitute tortuous interference. It’s been a while since the UFC has used their legal might to crush another promotion, but if there were talks, they’d have a case.

So all these heated denials against speaking to Mokaev may be as much for legal cover as they are over specific dislike for the young contender. That doesn’t make him look any better as he seeks a new home in the difficult MMA landscape outside the UFC.

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Ben Askren is pretty surprised UFC CEO Dana White hasn’t switched gears toward a Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall unification bout rather than Jones vs. Stipe Miocic.

After Jones withdrew due to injury from his heavyweight title defense against Miocic at UFC 295 this past November, Aspinall instead competed on the card, knocking out Sergei Pavlovich in short order to win the interim title. Since then, the bloom has seemingly fallen off of the proverbial rose in terms of fan interest for a Jones vs. Miocic re-booking, especially considering Miocic hasn’t fought since getting brutally knocked out by Francis Ngannou in March 2021. Aspinall continues to compete — he defended his interim belt with a knockout of Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 — leading many to believe the Englishman is the world’s best heavyweight.

Askren is now left wondering, why isn’t UFC pushing for Jones vs. Aspinall?

“I almost feel like maybe Jon’s got some dirt on Dana or something, because Dana generally would not put up with this type of behavior,” Askren said on Funky & The Champ with Daniel Cormier. “He would say, and this is what the UFC is founded on where boxing [wasn’t], is, ‘We want the best guys to fight. We want to see who the actual best guy is. We don’t want to waste time with shenanigans, we won’t want to pad records to go to 40-0, we don’t do that, that’s what boxing does. In the UFC, we put the best guys in there and see who wins.’

“So the fact that Jon is being — I don’t want to say, [I don’t know] if allowed is the right term, but Dana’s playing along, and letting him and Stipe fight. Stipe is going to be close to four years [since his last fight] by the time they ever fight. … You have this young interim champion, he’s a beast, just smashes people, and the fact that they won’t put them in there together — and then there’s this good [chance] that Jon beats Stipe and then says, ‘I’m done, I’m gone.’ And then you never get to see [Jones vs. Aspinall].”

Jones has competed just once in the past four years, capturing the vacant heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023.

Askren understands business and putting on the biggest fights possible, but at some point, he argues it has to be about the best two guys in a division competing for a world title.

“Dana almost always presses these issues with the best guys, it’s pretty rare when he hasn’t,” Askren said. “Like Sean [O’Malley] and Merab [Dvalishvili], he’s making that happen. He let Sean fight ‘Chito,’ that was one fight, but now Sean and Merab are fighting.”

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Despite all but confirming plans to retire from combat sports this year ahead of his expected UFC 309 return, Jon Jones has been tipped to likely end his own talk with a unification championship fight with Tom Aspinall – particularly with footage emerging of his training with grappling superstar, Gordon Ryan.

Jones, a former two-time undisputed light heavyweight titleholder and a current heavyweight champion, is all but signed to make his return from a year-plus hiatus at UFC 309 in November, topping the Madison Square Garden card in a matchup with former two-time best, Stipe Miocic.

Furthermore, the Rochester native has been heavily linked with a title unification pairing against current interim champion, Aspinall – with the Atherton finisher avenging his sole Octagon loss at UFC 304 with a blistering knockout of perennial contender, Curtis Blaydes. 

However, this week, Jones all but confirmed plans to retire following his fight with Miocic in a first outing in his homestate, claiming he was “winning” at life given the fact he would be retired at just 37 years of age.

Fun fact, after this year, Jon Jones will never have to work again,” Jon Jones posted in response to a comment on his official Instagram account. “Retired at age 37. Winning.”

Jon Jones again linked with Tom Aspinall showdown

However, across social media, amid the release of footage of Jones grappling with renowned grappling star, Ryan ahead of his expected November return, speculation has been rife amongst fans how the veteran will take on Aspinall after all.

“And people act like he (Jon Jones) won’t do this to (Tom) Aspinall in a f*ckin’ heartbeat,” A user on X posted.

“Jones would beat Aspinall easily,” Another user posted. “Respect the GOAT.”

In his most recent trip to the Octagon, Jones landed the vacant heavyweight championship with a stunning first round guillotine choke win over former interim titleholder, Ciryl Gane back in March of last year. 

Do you think Jon Jones will fight Tom Aspinall in the future?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Urijah Faber is still under UFC contract despite last fighting in the octagon in 2019, but he’s keeping a few doors open in case potential challenges come his way in the future.

Faber competed this past Friday in Abu Dhabi, defeating Bibiano Fernandes via decision in a grappling match in the main event of ADXC 5. He told MMA Fighting that fighting under MMA rules may not be his No. 1 choice at the moment, but he won’t rule it out either.

“I stay in the drug [testing] pool just because I don’t do drugs and you never know if an opportunity presents itself, but I likely will not be doing MMA [again]. But you never know,” Faber said. “I don’t think I’d want to do bare-knuckle, but you never know. I think I will do combat jiu-jitsu because I feel like that’s the new age, that’s where things are going. My style, Team Alpha BJJ is about staying safe and being dangerous. My jiu-jitsu is real-world applicable, MMA applicable, and it’s the stuff that works for fights. I want to keep building on that and keep showcasing that.

“So MMA, maybe not, but combat jiu-jitsu, yes. More of this grappling, yes.”

Asked if he’d be open to competing again in the UFC since he’s still under contract, the 45-year-old veteran said “it’d have to be the right scenario.” The same applies to bare-knuckle matches. Faber returned from retirement in July 2019 and walked through rising prospect Ricky Simon in 46 seconds, but hasn’t fought in MMA since losing a stoppage to Petr Yan that same year.

“I’ve had some good offers money-wise for bare-knuckle, but I’m not trying to fight world champion boxers in bare-knuckle,” Faber said. “You know, I’ve got kids, I don’t want to break cheekbones and that kind of stuff, lose teeth. But if they had an interesting matchup, my boy Conor McGregor is now an owner there, so he could probably find an opponent for me. I’m just competing. At [age] 45, I want to keep testing myself and keep staying active as an athlete. It’s my passion. That’s what I’ve done my whole life.”

Faber’s former opponent Jose Aldo tested himself in boxing ring after taking some time off from MMA, and then recently returned to the UFC with a vintage performance in May, dominating Jonathan Martinez. Aldo ultimately re-signed with the UFC and now faces Mario Bautista in October, but Faber, who memorably lost to Aldo for the WEC title back in 2010, would be interested in facing his fellow veteran in the boxing ring in the future.

“Chad Mendes and I both fought Jose Aldo and he was our toughest fight, so I’d prefer not to get beat up by Aldo at this point in my life,” Faber said with a laugh. “I would do a boxing match against him. I think they offered me something not too long ago, before he signed back with the UFC, but it was not the kind of offer that was super intriguing. And I talked to Aldo before about bare-knuckle. He has no desire of doing bare-knuckle. But I would do a boxing match with Jose Aldo.

“I love boxing. I love pure boxing. I love pure wrestling. I love pure jiu-jitsu. I love blending it together. I would not want to do a kickboxing match with Jose Aldo, that’s for damn sure,” Faber continued with another laugh. “I learned my lesson. Google ‘Urijah Faber’s leg,’ and if you don’t know what we’re talking about, you’ll know.”

Photo via ADXC

For now, Faber continues to focus on grappling matches like his contest with Fernandes. He’s now riding a two-match win streak, having beat Jeff Glover in combat jiu-jitsu as well.

“Bibiano and I are very alike and like to push ourselves,” said Faber, who fought an inexperienced Fernandes in MMA back in 2006. “I consider myself a world-class jiu-jitsu player. I mean, there’s no secret about that. Throughout the years, I’ve competed and pushed myself with guys like [Rubens] Charles ‘Cobrinha’ and Jeff Glover. All the heavy hitters of my era, I try to get my hands on them and roll throughout my whole career. And I’ve had a big focus on jiu-jitsu since I stopped fighting.

“I love to compete and I don’t have time to go to tournaments and do everything else, so taking the cream of the crop and showcasing my skill set is something that I really cherish. Being able to get paid for vacation, but go do something that I love and kind of spread the knowledge that I have and showcase what I’ve been working on is a great feeling.

“I don’t think that a lot of people know how into jiu-jitsu I am,” Faber continued. “I have my whole system, Team Alpha BJJ, my guys know it, my students know it, and it’s unique. It’s very unique. It’s a lot of scrambling, a lot of wrestling, a lot of jiu-jitsu, so I was happy to be able to showcase it. It makes things easy when you know what you’re doing.

“When I turned 45 this year, I was like, man, stay young by being with young intentions, and that’s competing, testing myself, putting challenges out there, getting out of your comfort zone. I’m coming over to the other side of the world to go against a world champion and put it out there for the world to see as a 45-year-old man, it’s exciting to be able to do that still. For me to grow as a mixed martial artist and test with the things that I’m working, it’s really cool to be able to do that.”

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Days after Merab Dvalishvili finally landed Sean O’Malley as his next opponent, he got together with the bantamweight champ for a photoshoot to begin promoting UFC 306.

The card taking place at the Sphere in Las Vegas has been teased as the most expensive event in UFC history, so it stands to reason why the promotion is going to put a lot of marketing muscle into making UFC 306 the biggest and best show possible. Part of the photoshoot involved Dvalishvili coming face-to-face with O’Malley for a staredown, but the two rivals barely got within a foot of each other before the trash talk started.

UFC eventually released a clip showing Dvalishvili arguing with O’Malley while a stunned Alexa Grasso watched in the background, but it turns out cameras didn’t get rolling soon enough to catch everything.

“We were just doing a faceoff,” Dvalishvili told MMA Fighting. “They wanted us to face off without conversation. But of course, once I saw Sean, he was making fun of me. He was joking, ‘Welcome to the big show,’ and he said, ‘Oh, have you ever been in the main event?’ He was [talking to] me with sarcasm.

“I said, ‘Yes, of course, I’ve been in the main event before. Remember when I beat the shit out of Petr Yan?’ He didn’t like that. He [said], ‘Welcome to the big show. I’ve been here.’”

The war of words eventually led to Dvalishvili taking aim at O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch, who injected himself into the rivalry after getting into a spat with former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling on social media. The initial incident erupted after video captured during O’Malley’s title fight win showed Welch shouting instructions at Sterling from the side of the cage.

Sterling then accused Welch of talking so much trash from the corner that the referee had to tell him to stay quiet.

The back-and-forth saw Dvalishvili promise to slap Welch when they finally run into each other, and that only amplified the bad blood between the two camps.

Dvalishvili says what UFC captured on film was his confrontation with O’Malley over Welch, which was after the trash talk between them had already began. As much as Dvalishvili wants to beat O’Malley and take his title at UFC 306, he promises his biggest issue lies with Welch more than anybody else.

“I have a problem with his coach, Tim,” Dvalishvili said. “He was very disrespectful to me and he was doing stupid [stuff] and not respectful [things]. Any real coach should never do that, whatever he was doing. Try do the same thing in basketball or let’s try to do the same thing in a football game. They will give you a disqualification. Only the UFC can you get out of this. Coach your guy, coach your fighter. Don’t be disrespectful to the opponent. What kind of people does this? Only a snake person does this.

“Even now he’s talking on his podcast, like making fun of my height, making fun of my nose, even now he some fans said some stupid things. Nothing is real. He’s making up some stories about me, which is not true. He deserves [me] to smack his face. That’s what I told Sean O’Malley. ‘Hey Sean, tell your coach to shut his mouth,’ because I was so pissed when I saw all these videos, how he does stupid things, how he talks stupid. I told him to shut his mouth.”

After Dvalishvili vowed to settle things with Welch when they run into each other, O’Malley amped up his chatter by telling Dvalishvili that Welch would welcome that fight, especially with a significant size advantage on his side.

That’s when Dvalishvili reminded O’Malley that he wasn’t trying to lure Welch into the cage to meet him in the UFC.

“He said, ‘Oh, you should fight him.’ Bro, I’m talking a street fight,” Dvalishvili said. “You think I’m going to go in the cage and I’m going to have a referee and I’m going to have rules there? I’m talking about when I see him, I’m going to smack his face. [O’Malley] said, ‘He’s bigger than you, that’s why we have weight classes.’ I don’t give a shit. I’m talking about man to man. I’m very pissed off. He deserves [me] to smack his face.

“He’s not a real coach. He’s not a real man. That’s what I’m talking about. He’s not a fighter. I’m not going to go in the cage with him. He’s never going to be in the UFC or in my weight class especially. I’m not going to do jiu-jitsu rounds with him. I’m talking about a street fight. That’s all I was trying [to say], but then Sean O’Malley was acting stupid [saying] there’s weight classes. This guy is so stupid. What are you talking about? Where did you grow up? Who raised you? Who are you? What the f*ck are you talking about?”

As irate as he was in the moment, Dvalishvili says he never intended for the situation with O’Malley to turn so volatile, but he’s not going to back down from a challenge — even one coming from his opponent’s head coach.

“I don’t like drama,” Dvalishvili said. “I’m a professional fighter and I’m going to focus on this fight. If I see Tim somewhere, of course I’m going to smack his face. That’s all. That was it. That’s what I told Sean O’Malley.

“Tim deserves to get smacked, for sure. But me and Sean O’Malley, we’re going to fight in the cage with the rules, UFC octagon, and we’re going to fight for the UFC belt. That’s done. I’m not going to talk to Tim because he don’t deserve to have a conversation. He deserves only a smack in his face. He already talks too much. He already disrespected me, he already disrespected my team, he already disrespected MMA. He deserves to get [smacked].”

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