UFC Vegas 87 results: Muhammed Mokaev calls for title shot after grueling win over Alex Perez
Muhammad Mokaev wants a shot at gold after his latest win at UFC Vegas 87.
It’s tough to tell if his performance will warrant that opportunity after Mokaev really had to grind his way to victory over a tough and savvy veteran in Alex Perez. The difference in the fight really came down to Mokaev’s wrestling after he scored numerous takedowns and one huge suplex to prevent Perez from pulling off the upset.
The final scorecards all ready 29-28 for Mokaev as he moves to 6-0 in the UFC with the win.
“To be honest, I was very sick this morning,” Mokaev revealed afterwards. “But I have the best team in the world. Hey 6-0 in the UFC, four finishes. Listen, 10 weeks from today [at UFC 301], I’m ready to fight for the belt.”
A noted grappler, Mokaev appeared ready to showcase his striking in the early going before eventually looking for his first takedown but Perez resisted going to the ground. The relentless wrestling continued until Mokaev finally dragged Perez to the canvas where he began unloading with huge punches until the horn sounded to close the first round.
With a clear advantage on the ground, Mokaev continued to turn to his wrestling, although nothing came easy as Perez continued to find a way to break free. Perez’s defense was giving Mokaev a lot of problems as the undefeated 23-year-old flyweight looked like was losing steam.
Still, Perez’s best weapon was stuffing Mokaev’s takedowns but he wasn’t doing much damage outside of a few solid elbows to the head as he fought off the wrestling attempts. Mokaev eventually got a body lock on him and managed a highlight reel suplex to throw Perez on his back but he couldn’t maintain the position.
A split second later, Perez was back up again and he kept coming after Mokaev, who continuously looked for takedowns with varying levels of success. It was those tenacious attacks to get Perez down that likely made the biggest difference with the judges because the one-time title challenger just couldn’t mount any real offense of his own over three rounds.
In the end, Mokaev got the job done but it remains to be seen if that performance will be enough to convince the powers-that-be to give him a shot at flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja at the upcoming UFC 301 event scheduled in Brazil in May.