MUHAMMAD MOKAEV is bidding to become the UFC's youngest-ever champion – but the clock is ticking on that dream.
The Russian-born British flyweight entered mixed martial arts' premier promotion last March hell bent on making the record – which he's long dreamed of – his own.
MMA legend Jon Jones is the current owner of the record, which he claimed in March 2011 by dethroning then-light-heavyweight champion Shogun Rua.
Mokaev, 23, has a mere five months left to break the record and believes repeated snubs from the highly-ranked 125-pounders could ultimately scupper his dream.
He told SunSport: "It is [frustrating], to be honest. Because I was ready to fight in Boston in America on August 19.
"I was ready. I said to the matchmakers, 'Please give me somebody, I'm ready to fight.'
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"But I couldn't get anyone. I was calling out, as you saw, Manel Kape and Amir Albazi – I called out all of them."
Mokaev believes his bid to win UFC gold could end up being a victim of his success inside the cage.
He continued: They ignored me – because I'm a very, very bad match-up for them.
"In the top five or the top eight of the division, they're either a grappler or a striker.
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"There are not many well-rounded fighters.
"I would say, there is only Kai Kara-France who understands the MMA games and [Alexandre] Pantoja.
"The rest of them, I don't see any of them challenging me."
Mokaev's rise up the flyweight ranks continues on Saturday night at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi, where he'll fight wily veteran Tim Elliot.
And he fully expects the UFC brass to start forcing his divisional rivals to fight him after he does a number on Elliot
He said: "After I finish Tim, that's when the UFC will start telling fighters, 'Either you're fighting [him] or you're not going to be fighting for like six months'.
"I think that's what the UFC needs to do. I'm not saying what they need to do, but I think in this situation a fighter cannot pick and choose who they fight.
"You can be ranked No.3 but choose not to fight somebody ranked No.15 and just sit and wait there.
"You're wasting time, you came here to fight – not saving your spot."
Mokaev knows time is of the essence if he's to keep his seemingly fast-fading hopes of becoming the youngest-ever fighter to win UFC.
So much so that he plans to fly to America two weeks later to be a potential backup for the pair of flyweight fights at UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden.
"If I don't have any injury, I'll fly to America after the fight," he said. "And stay there in case somebody pulls out.
"I want to be on a long-fight winning streak.
"If somebody doesn't accept from the top ten, I don't care. I'm just going to have a long winning streak."
Mokaev will be the most in-form flyweight on the roster should he get the better of Elliot and believes a five-fight win streak will put him on the cusp of title contention.
He said: "After this fight, I'm going to have the longest UFC flyweight win streak.
"I'll be on a five-fight winning streak.
And after this, I think the UFC will give me a title fight [if someone from the top ten doesn't accept a fight with me]"
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He added: "If somebody doesn't accept from the top ten, I just have to fight anyone just to be on a long-fight winning streak.
"So I can say, 'I've beat whoever the UFC put in front of me, I'm ready to fight for the title.'"
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