The crowd inside the O2 Arena in London gasped when they saw Muhammad Mokaev’s knee being pried backwards.
The Briton was stuck in an agony-inducing kneebar at UFC 286 in March, with Jafel Filho seemingly moments away from victory.
Some of Mokaev’s corner closed their eyes, not wanting to see their fighter’s leg break, as the joint audibly started to crack.
“I heard it [crack] seven or eight times actually. And even my opponent said ‘I heard the cracks too’,” Mokaev tells BBC Sport.
“There was pain, but I was more feeling sick inside, there was something going on inside my body.”
Mokaev’s team were worried his leg would snap because they knew, despite the gravity of the situation he found himself in, he would never submit.
And they were proved right as, remarkably, after nearly a minute stuck in the submission hold, Mokaev escaped before securing a third-round win.
Mokaev says his resilience stems from the difficult experiences he went through as a child, where following the death of his mother he fled Russia with his father, arriving in the UK as a refugee hidden in a car.
“I was thinking, the kneebar for 52 seconds is nothing compared to what I’ve seen,” said Mokaev.
“And I’d rather handle this pain, one minute inside the cage, than to be tapped and lose.
“If my leg would break I was ready. In my head I didn’t know what was going to happen because I already thought it was broken.”
The injury Mokaev suffered was a partial tear of his medial collateral ligament (MCL), but following two months of rehab near his home in Wigan, he was able to return to training.
Now the 23-year-old is set for the biggest test of his UFC career when he puts his 11-fight unbeaten streak on the line against fellow flyweight Tim Elliott at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
‘I believe I will get a title shot in 2024’
After making his UFC debut in 2022, Mokaev has gone on to win all four fights to rise up to 11th in the promotion’s flyweight rankings.
But in 36-year-old Tim Elliott, who is ranked one place above Mokaev, he is facing a former UFC title challenger and the most experienced fighter of his career.
Since making his debut in 2009, Elliott has won 19 of his 32 fights and faced Demetrius Johnson for the UFC flyweight title in 2016, suffering a unanimous decision defeat.
Mokaev says he is grateful to be fighting a seasoned fighter like Elliott because previous opponents have caused him to be too passive inside the octagon.
“Elliott is a good opponent to show my skills because I’ve fought against some inexperienced guys. For example [last fight] I started doing mistakes because I was feeling too comfortable in the cage,” said Mokaev.
“The guy didn’t give me the fightback, he didn’t want to be aggressive. But Tim Elliott is that kind of fighter where you can catch him and finish him more easily than somebody who is just happy to lose by decision.
“Some fighters I’ve faced were happy just not to get finished, but Elliott is not that kind of guy and it’s going to make it an exciting fight.”
Mokaev believes that an impressive win over Elliott followed up by a statement victory early next year could push him towards a title shot in 2024.
The UFC flyweight belt is currently held by Brazil’s Alexandre Pantoja.
“I believe maybe one more fight after this because after this I will have the longest winning streak [11] in the UFC flyweight division,” said Mokaev.
“I believe the UFC will give me [a title shot] but I need to finish Elliott to talk about titles.”
The card at Etihad Arena is headlined by a lightweight title rematch between Russian champion Islam Makhachev and Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski.
Featherweight title holder Volkanovski, who replaced the injured Charles Oliveira last week on 12 days notice, is attempting to become a double champion following a narrow defeat by Makhachev in February.
Former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman takes on Khamzat Chimaev at middleweight in the co-main, while elsewhere London’s Nathaniel Wood faces Tajikistan’s Muhammad Naimov in a featherweight contest.
