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Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was called out by rising flyweight contender, Muhammad Mokaev.
The No.8-ranked Muhammad Mokaev expressed his desire to take on the inaugral flyweight champion in a grappling match after his scheduled fight against Alex Perez.
Check out his post calling out Demetrious Johnson here:
The post did not sit well with most fans, prompting Mokaev to clarify the callout in a subsequent post. He stated that it was his desire to test himself against a legend of the sport. He also made mention of Johnson's long-time No.1 pound-for-pound status and his dominance.
He wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
"Tweeted that I would like to have a grappling match against Dmetrious Johnson , the legend himself, P4P number 1 holding the sport for the long time I just wanna compete with the best in the sport, what’s wrong with that?"
Check out his post below on X:
Mokaev also talked about witnessing Johnson's showdown against another veteran Tim Elliott live. Last year, Mokaev took on Elliott himself at UFC 294 and won via third-round submission due to an arm-triangle choke.
He wrote on X:
"I was watching fight live when Elliot fought DJ and they motivated me as young kid I already fought against Elliot , now I wanna compete against the legend himself"
Check out his post below:
UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall lends support to Muhammad Mokaev for wanting to fight Demetrious Johnson
Interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall lent his support to Muhammad Mokaev for wanting to challenge himself against Demetrious Johnson.
Aspinall compared the situation to his own as he seeks to unify his interim title against the undisputed champion in Jon Jones.
He quoted Mokaev's post on X and wrote:
"People get very offended when you want to fight the best"
Check out Tom Aspinall's post below:
Jones has not taken Aspinall's call-outs positively, as he himself hopes to take on Stipe Miocic, who is considered by many to be the greatest to do it at heavyweight. The two were scheduled to face off in the main event of UFC 295, but an injury to Jones forced him to withdraw from the bout. The UFC has since announced plans to put the bout together sometime in 2024.
