Muhammad Mokaev pleads UK PM Rishi Sunak to stop ‘genocide’ during Ramadan after UFC Vegas 87 triumph

Many UFC fighters have made their stance known in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and some have even feuded on social media due to their contrasting views. Most of the Muslim fighters have supported the Palestinian cause with Belal Muhammad being the most vocal among those and he had to feud with Sean Strickland about it on social media.

The recent UFC Vegas 87 saw the undefeated Muhammad Mokaev take on Alex Perez, the former flyweight title challenger, and he had a political statement to make after the fight.

Muhammad Mokaev victorious at UFC Vegas 87

Muhammad Mokaev won via unanimous decision against Alex Perez and called for a title shot at flyweight. Perez was Mokaev’s toughest fight in the UFC to date as the 31-year-old American effectively countered the wrestling of the Dagestan-born UK resident. The victory over Perez was also his consecutive victory over a former title challenger as he submitted Tim Elliot in his previous fight.

Nonetheless, all three judges scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Mokaev who has now made 6 wins in a row in the UFC. The first round saw Mokaev employ striking to bag the round as Perez effectively defended all but one of the six takedown attempts of his opponents. However, things changed in the second round when Mokaev could only garner a single takedown from seven attempts and also showed signs of exhaustion.

With the scorecard seemingly 1-1, the third round saw both have equal success with strikes, but Mokaev took down Perez with a suplex which possibly tilted the round in his favor. In his Octagon interview with Daniel Cormier, Mokaev revealed that he had sickness going into the fight and that might be the reason for him looking visibly tired.

“(UFC) 301 is 10 weeks from today, I’m ready to fight for the belt. Hey, Dana (White), Hunter (Campbell), Mick (Maynard), give me this chance,” Mokaev also said in the interview as he called for a flyweight title shot against Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Muhammad Mokaev request UK Prime Minister to end genocide

Muhammad Mokaev had words for Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the UK, after his victory over Alex Perez at UFC Vegas 87.

“Rishi Sunak, stop genocide! The Prime Minister from the United Kingdom, stop this, at least stop in Ramadan. Stop killing our kids,” Mokaev said in the Octagon interview with Daniel Cormier.

Mokaev is a devout Muslim and has been very vocal about his support for the Palestinian cause. In his previous fight, which was against Tim Elliot at UFC 294, Mokaev called for peace in Gaza from the Israeli military in his octagon interview. At the PPV, other Muslim fighters like Khamzat Chimaev and Islam Makhachev also made similar pleas after their respective victories.

Almost all the Muslim fighters have been very vocal about their support for Palestine whilst some fighters support Israel. Natan Levy, an Israeli UFC lightweight, is a vocal supporter of his homeland and has even criticized the UFC fighters who voice their support for Palestine.

Sean Strickland, the former UFC middleweight fighter, has also made his views public about the conflict. At first, Strickland was very critical of Palestine but recently he stated that external conflicts should not matter to the citizens of the US in light of the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell.

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