Prospect Breakdown: IMMAF Champion Mohammad Mokaev
Photo by IMMAF. Muhammad Mokaev holding the flag of England.
The amateur scene in MMA is unorganized and underutilized. Most fighters have only a few amateur fights before turning pro to see if they are skilled enough to enter the professional level. The amateur stage is seen as a stepping stone for most, not a place to actually progress their skills, find their weaknesses, and gain the intangibles that only can come from real fight experience. If there is a problem that lies within amateur MMA, it is the complete lack of structure. In amateur boxing, there are the National Gold Gloves tournaments, the Olympics, and parent organizations like USA Boxing. There is a logical progression to the amateur boxing career, fighters do not just fight once or twice and then go pro.
The IMMAF is looking to solve that by creating federations around the world that hold regional tournaments to determine who goes to the World Championships.
Muhammad Mokaev is the first MMA fighter, of his level, that we have seen go through the amateur ranks in the IMMAF. As a two-time Junior World Champion at Bantamweight, a European Open Champion, a Oceania Open Champion, the number-one P4P Junior in IMMAF, and the #1 Junior Bantamweight in the IMMAF, he has developed to be the most decorated amateur MMA fighter in history. Apart from his amateur MMA career, he has also had a successful amateur wrestling run in Great Britain's program. As a five-time British wrestling champion (who most recently won gold at 61kg’s in Britain's senior championship in 2019) Mokaev used his dominant wrestling game to tear through competition on the amateur level.
Mokaev has recently made the jump to the professional ranks of MMA, signing with the Bahrain-based promotion Brave CF, and has turned down “lucrative offers” from more prominent promotions like Bellator and ONE Championship. While we await his eventual pro debut, let’s take a close look at the game, weaknesses, and improvements of Mokaev, through his trilogy with the aforementioned Reo Yamaguchi.
Reo Yamaguchi 1: 2018 IMMAF Junior World Championship for Bantamweight Title
Reo Yamaguchi broke out as one of team Japan’s best fighters in 2018, placing first in the Oceania Open Championship. His success continued on at the Junior Worlds in 2018, reaching the finals to face-off with Muhammad Mokaev.
Yamaguchi, renowned for his quick hands and submission grappling, has consistently beaten all fighters at the amateur level except Muhammad Mokaev. Their first bout played out in the aforementioned 2018 Junior World Finals, as both tore through their three preliminary matches in the two day tournament.
Mokaev’s entire takedown game flows together through one tenet: pressuring. As such, he takes the center of the cage as soon as the fight begins, throwing hand feints and feinting level-changes with the intention of forcing his opponent back to the cage. Here, Mokaev takes small steps forward while feinting. The threats force Yamaguchi back and the small steps prevent him from overstepping and being led on to Yamaguchi’s counters. Mokaev cuts the cage by moving diagonally toward Yamaguchi, looking to cut off all of his exits laterally and to force him to blitz forward.
The relentless pressure and cage cutting forces Yamaguchi to do a few things, all of which Mokaev attempts to counter with his grappling game. Here, Yamaguchi takes the bait and attempts to step-in forward and jab. Mokaev, expecting the step-in, shoots reactively as soon as Yamaguchi takes a step into range. He gets both hands around the back of the knees, but doesn’t blast through. Instead, he lifts the lead leg of Yamaguchi up and pulls it through (single leg cutback, but with both legs controlled). This sets up an angle from which he can plant his back foot and drive through the double leg. The cage acted as a barrier, but as any good wrestler in MMA must, he relentlessly attacked along the cage until he could connect his hands on the double and lift to finish. An array of calculated and creative finishes, thoughtful entries to takedowns, and clever adjustments mid-shot are staples of Mokaev’s takedown game.
Mokaev, similar to his Russian counterparts Yunus Evloev and Khabib Nurmagomedov, loves to shoot low singles in open space. He waits for Yamaguchi to walk into his distance trap and instantly shoots low, placing his head just outside the knee and his hands on the knee/low ankle. This lets him straighten the leg through and finish. As the low single is a favorite of uber-athletic fighters, Mokaev loves to shoot low and has a myriad of finishes from and around the low single, making him a real threat.
In Ed Gallo’s article on Cody Stamann, he states out that, in wrestling for MMA, “Walking straight in may work against some opponents, if they’re bad enough on the backfoot, but most of the time a fighter needs to strike or threaten to strike in order to safely enter (into a takedown).” To weave striking and grappling together is something that genuinely causes trouble for many wrestlers in their transition to MMA, but not Mokaev. Although Mokaev still needs to work on his boxing game, he does already know how to feint into take-downs.
Ed Gallo also mentions the importance of having a system that can consistently force the fight to go to the ground, no matter what the opponent does. Mokaev’s system, while not perfect at this time, is important to understanding his potential. He understands how pressure and feinting can let him enter into his takedowns safely; he understands that his pressure and cage cutting will allow him to shoot reactively when his opponents are forced to come forward; he understands that he has to wait for the correct range and rhythm to shoot his single in open space. All of these characteristics are indicative of his potential, as most specialists struggle to create a cohesive system that has answers to different things their opponent could do..
Once Mokaev establishes control from his takedown, he wants to pass and get to positions where he can rain down strikes or snatch a sub. However, he routinely finishes his shots by falling in his opponent’s closed guard, where his posture is controlled and his power limited. Here, Yamaguchi stalls Mokaev’s ground-and-pound attack in closed guard by controlling the wrists. Consequently, Mokaev cannot attempt to pass until Yamaguchi makes a move, signifying a lack of initiative in his top game. Once he is able to attempt to pass, he looks to push his opponent’s legs past whilst circling. While this strategy may work at times, a proficient guard-player can seamlessly move their trunk to match Mokaev’s and even find leg entanglements to scramble out as Yamaguchi did.
Elite top game players like Demian Maia and Khabib Nurmagomedov are elite due to the adaption of their respective sports to the MMA, specifically the ground and pound context. Khabib will also attempt to pass the legs after standing and breaking the closed guard, but he will actively control the legs and punch behind the guard to force an opening that allows him to pass, not just try to force a pass like Mokaev did. Mokaev does not punch to create this opening, which allows a competent guard player to continuously adjust his body to retain guard. While this limitation is not a death sentence, as being in closed guard landing strikes is still good, if he wants to develop into a truly dominant top player, then he will have to adapt his passing skills to MMA.
The front headlock is a lethal weapon for Mokaev. If he traps the head and arm, he looks to circle towards the controlled arm and sit to a Peruvian necktie or an arm-in guillotine. Here, he sits to the Peruvian necktie. Yamaguchi intelligently drew his hips back as Mokaev began to pull the choke back, taking away Mokaev’s leverage. Still, Mokaev retained the front headlock. As Yamaguchi attempts to stand to relieve pressure and escape, Mokaev transfers to the inside trip to get back on top. Mokaev’s submission threats, trip game, go-behinds, and his flow between them allow him to have a versatile front-headlock game.
Although Mokaev has a range of wrestling counters to an opponent pushing forward, his counter-striking game on the back foot is still developing. Yamaguchi is able to push him back to the fence and steps in with a 1-2 as Mokaev tries to intercept his entry with a counter. As defensive striking lacks any layering, he often finds himself in trouble. He does not use his hands to parry, catch, guard, or smother punches, nor does he slip/roll, and his defensive footwork lacks circling and awareness in positioning, leaving him stalled out. In the midst of this, he has a phenomenal knack for timing his entries on the hips and then chaining techniques together to get the fight on the ground. He ducks under to the hips here as soon as Yamaguchi steps in. Even though Yamaguchi sprawls hard, he chains right to the upper-body clinch. There he can use his underhooks to turn his opponents to the cage. Mokaev is great at finishing shots along the cage, as he has a breadth of finishes like single-leg cutbacks, double leg lifts, and upper body throws/trips.
While Mokaev is not particularly layered defensively, he does have a small toolbox of weapons on the backfoot that work to deter his opponents from pressuring him to the cage. He counters the blitz of Yamaguchi by pulling his head back and check-hooking whilst moving off-line. He fails to do a clean pivot out though, allowing Yamaguchi to get right back on him. Mokaev accepts the rhythm moving backward and then plants suddenly to catch Yamaguchi off-rhythm with a rear uppercut. Not earth-shattering, but having ideas like hooking to get off-line and drawing opponents on to break the rhythm is brilliant.
To be aware and take steps to prevent putting yourself against the cage is a difficult thing for most MMA fighters to get comfortable with. Even at the highest levels in the sport, fighters like Edson Barboza and Alexander Gustaffson struggle with stopping consistent pressure. This discomfort on the back foot hinders their explosiveness into takedowns, their counter-striking game, and puts them in disadvantageous positions when they try to position themselves during exchanges.
His first of three fights with Yamaguchi established him as a relentless and skilled takedown threat with a good pressure game but with a shallow array of tools on the backfoot and a stagnant top game. He looked to improve on this in his second fight with Yamaguchi, which took place in the finals of the European Open in 2019. Again, both won their two previous fights to bring them to this point, further cementing themselves as the two top fighters in the Bantamweight IMMAF Junior division.
Reo Yamaguchi 2: 2019 IMMAF Junior European Open for Bantamweight Title
In their first fight, Mokaev was largely looking to counter Yamaguchi’s entries with a takedown or by giving ground, but here he shows a new focus on planting and countering with strikes. As soon as Yamaguchi enters, he throws a 2-3. He also looks to lead more with punches in the 2nd fight, hooking around the guard and then kicking as Yamaguchi moves away.
Similar to how Mokaev reactively shoots when his opponent enters, he doesn’t look to slip punches and then counter, he simply punches on the step-in and hopes his superior athleticism speed and power will win him the exchange. Mokaev lacks the head movement, positioning, combination punching, and shot-selection to be a great counter striker at this point, but those can come with experience and a good team. The addition of countering entries with strikes adds another layer to his takedown system, as it forces his opponent to think of multiple threats as they enter, not just being worried about the reactive takedown. Mokaev also looked to lead more in this fight but he struggled to do so consistently. His use of feints and composed pressure footwork does provide him a solid base to improve upon though.
Mokaev shows good awareness of using his grappling in conjunction with his striking here, which was something that he failed to consistently achieve in the first fight. He keeps the hook lingering and pulls into a collar-tie before controlling the bicep with his free hand and knees. He pulls back to get Yamaguchi’s momentum going forward and then shoots deep on the legs. Yamaguchi has heavy hips on the sprawl, but Mokaev showed good awareness and improvement in flowing different aspects of MMA together.
Mokaev’s biggest improvement came right here and it was simply a mindset shift. He stopped accepting that Yamaguchi could stall him out in closed guard. Instead, he began to take the initiative, and stood with a wide base (to prevent sweeps) while punching down to force Yamaguchi to lose control of his closed guard. Once he broke the guard, he continued to punch and threatened to go to a knee-slice pass. Although Yamaguchi did a great job of controlling the cutting leg, the punching and threat let him hop his leg over to half-guard, a better place to land strikes.
While this one showing of breaking the closed guard with strikes was impressive, it still does not solve the aforementioned problems in his top game. Mokaev was still getting stuck in the closed guard repeatedly. It needed more practice and experience for it to truly flow as a part of his grappling game, but once it does he will reap the benefits.
Although he did show improvements in other areas, his defensive striking was still inadequate. He routinely let Yamaguchi get a slight offensive angle (Yamaguchi getting his lead foot outside Mokaev’s) which let Yamaguchi line up his rear hand. His head was stiff, his hands were stuck in attempting to parry, and he consistently lost foot position and backed himself to the cage. All he could do was duck-under and shoot, but it was too predictable.
An issue that plagues nearly all prospects and professional MMA fighters is positioning on the back foot. Wrestlers or grapple-heavy fighters need to work on this especially, as doing so creates multiple opportunities to draw opponents into takedowns. Chad Mendes is a great fighter for Mokaev to study here. Mendes was keen at switching stances, cross-stepping to draw opponents on, and keeping a good balanced stance before slipping punches into takedowns.
Though Mokaev’s backfoot takedown game is not nearly as nuanced, there is always a chance he can just use his incredible athleticism to shoot right into the low single, one of his favorite places to finish.
Mokaev still struggles in passing to side control but his top game really gets going when he can get there from his takedowns. He looks to strike down with short elbows until he can force Yamaguchi to turn into him. If Yamaguchi can only half-turn, he throws more elbows. If he fully turns to his knees and turtles, he looks to grab a cross-wrist and punch (folkstyle) or hop to the back (BJJ). Here he hops to the back-an odd decision when in consideration that he was the superior wrestler and had a cross-wrist nearby. It gets him in trouble.
The second fight was much like the first. A decisive decision victory brought about by the superior chain wrestling and athleticism of Mokaev. Mokaev did improve between the two though, he had a much better top game, better awareness of weaving striking and grappling together, and used a variety of finishes on his shots, but he did still have clear areas of weakness. His defense, footwork on the back foot, and his overall leading with punches game were still severely nascent. He looked to continue his improvement going into the 2019 Junior World Championship and in finishing his trilogy with Yamaguchi.
Reo Yamaguchi 3: 2019 IMMAF Junior World Championship for Bantamweight Title
While the third fight didn’t showcase too many technical improvements, Mokaev came out with strategic and systematic improvements. He made his system better through the thoughtful use of initiation, footwork, and the upper-body takedown game. He was showing the benefits of gaining more experience as well, as he looked much more comfortable both on the feet and the ground.
Mokaev began as he always did by pushing Yamaguchi back to the cage. Instead of waiting for Yamaguchi to come forward and shooting reactively though, he began to shoot along the cage and looked to enforce his wrestling game there, a necessary improvement for any dedicated wrestler. Here, he trapped the arm between his body lock after his double failed and circled to the left. This forced Yamaguchi to slightly turn, where Mokaev then shucked him across and to the back. Still, he neglected to use his wrestling game and instead looked to take the back and put his hooks in. He couldn’t do so and decided to suplex instead: A true Dagestani.
A key thing to notice here in the third fight is the position that Mokaev looks to finish his takedowns in. Because he is much more proficient in side control, he began to finish shots and takedowns with the intent of ending up in side control. This bypasses the energy spent passing the guard and instead focuses it on getting submissions and landing ground-and-pound. While Mokaev will still need to develop an adapted MMA guard passing game, this improvement in landing position will help his top game to get flowing instantly.
Again, he moves to a suplex when Yamaguchi denies hooks. Although the slams are beautiful and showcase his improvement in shooting takedowns to good position, they show a weakness in Mokaev’s game. He cannot get control of his opponents when they turn their back and turtle on the ground. He looks for risky back takes instead of using his rides or even just safer methods of taking the back. As most brutal GNP positions stem from attacking a turtled opponent, he needs to find a consistent way to attack from there. Again though, look how he turns to finish the shot in side control.
Mokaev showcased his upper-body game in this fight. His physicality and overall strength help him a lot here, as he lifts and takes out Yamaguchi’s lead leg as a mat return. From there, he kept the wrists controlled and attempted to take the back but again, he failed. Still, he was able to sneak some big punches when the wrists were controlled. His overall upper-body game is very good, as he has depth and style in his finishes (trips/throws) and uses knees well.
If he can force you to wall walk, he is at his best. Here, he collects the legs of Yamaguchi and forces them up, taking away his hip mobility and overall ability to move. From there, he steps over into a leg triangle where he can punch freely, a favorite of Khabib Nurmagomedov.
A crucial aspect of Mokaev’s controlling style is his ability to react quickly to potential escapes. He can quickly transfer his weight to multiple places, move his hands correctly to stop the escape, and shut it down. Here, he quickly shuts down the sweep and forces a scramble instead.
While reactions are thought of typically as strictly important in the striking realm, having good reactions in grappling sequences is invaluable. Being able to negate sweeps, escapes, or defenses and exposing them for your own advantage takes lengths of grappling experience and athleticism, both of which Mokaev has an abundance of.
Mokaev’s best use of ground-and-pound in the entirety of the trilogy came at this moment. He forced his way into a mounted crucifix, where he could slam down elbows. He needs more of this, as it keeps his weight off the hips of his opponent and prevents bridge and framing escapes.
Concluding Thoughts & Future Comparisons
The trilogy between Muhammad Mokaev and Reo Yamaguchi perfectly sums up the benefits of consistent amateur fights. Neither took sustained beatings nor damage, yet both improved upon their skillset, learned how to integrate tactics seamlessly, and gained comfort in striking and grappling phases with the experiences respectively.
While consistent success in the IMMAF and long amateur MMA careers have yet to be proven as a method for success at the professional level, Muhammad Mokaev certainly looks to possess a bright future as long as he is given proper tests (not the Aaron Pico treatment).
He does have his issues in striking, particularly when moving on the back foot. His defense can be questionable. Lastly, his top game has not yet fully adapted to MMA. However, his relentlessness in shooting/finishing takedowns, his athleticism, and his willingness to improve give him a high chance at being a successful pro. I am very excited for his future.
As I see him now, Mokaev could be Aljamain Sterling-lite: Both like that frantic pressure style, love low singles and chaining to the upper-body, have good but not elite top games, combine BJJ and Wrestling, and have insane athleticism. The issue comes with striking. While I am positive Mokaev can get better on the feet, I do not think he ever reaches Aljo’s comfort moving forward and backward, his circling ability, his defense, etc. Truth be told, it’s hard to make an accurate prediction as he is only 19 years old, but someone like Aljo who matches his background/athleticism is a good fit.
Where do you see Mokaev’s ceiling in MMA? Feel free to let us know in the comments, and if you want your own bespoke breakdown as detailed as this one, go ahead and check us out at Patreon.