He Wanted Certificates Not Gold Medals: Mokaev recalls relationship with Father

27 May 2021

They say the grass is always greener on the other side and MMA prodigy Muhammad Mokaev experienced it first hand. Despite his success in the Mixed Martial Arts world since his early days, Mokaev failed to impress his own father, who, according to himself, wanted something else rather than the gold medals and belts he got used to getting.

Only one year before graduating in Business, Mokaev decided to drop out of college to pursue a full-time career in Mixed Martial Arts. The decision came prior to his first IMMAF World Championship when he wasn’t granted time off to prepare for the most important tournament of his career up to that point.

Mokaev got back home with a gold medal, the first of two he got during his amateur career, but that wasn’t enough to impress his father. Mokaev himself recalled it in a video with unheard stories from Muhammad Mokaev released by BRAVE CF.

“Don’t get me wrong, my dad appreciated the fact that I was involved in sports”, Mokaev said. “But he preferred that I had an academic career. Every Time I had my gold medal he’d say ‘what is this?’ and he’d show me an education certificate. ‘That’s what I want, a certificate, not medals and belts’, he’d say”.

This relationship dynamics certainly influenced Mokaev’s approach to life and Mixed Martial Arts but, possibly, it also brought him to a path of success. Since he showed up home with a golden medal, Mokaev hasn’t stopped collecting records and wins.

“The Punisher”, as he’s also known as, finished his amateur career with a perfect 23-0 record. He then made his transition to professional MMA and thrived too, keeping his undefeated status, earning a pro record of 4 wins and no losses.

Mokaev is returning to the BRAVE CF cage once again this June 4th in Minsk, Belarus at BRAVE CF 51, an event in association with Rukh Sport Management (RSM) to face Georgia’s Ibragim Navruzov in a Catchweight 59KG bout.

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