Alexander Volkanovski thinks the championship rounds belong to him. Movsar Evloev heard that, and he’s decided to stay for all of them.
The unbeaten featherweight told MMA Junkie on Friday that he walked into this camp hunting a stoppage. He dropped that plan once the champion started suggesting a long fight would tilt his way. “When I hear that kind of stuff, I don’t want a finish,” Evloev said. “I want to prove that he’s not special. I can beat him over five rounds.”
The two headline UFC 333 next week at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, with the 145-pound title on the line. Evloev (20-0 MMA, 10-0 UFC) gets his first shot at UFC gold against two-time champion Volkanovski (29-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC), and the oddsmakers can’t separate them. It’s a pick’em.
Volkanovski’s argument has an obvious hole, and Evloev was happy to point at it. Every one of his 10 UFC wins has gone to the judges. “All my 10 fights (in the UFC) by decision, so it wasn’t luck, right?” he said. Only one of those went 25 minutes, though. That was his majority decision over Lerone Murphy in the UFC London main event in March, which was also his first fight in 15 months after a long layoff. So the champion’s point has some weight. Evloev has gone five rounds exactly once, while Volkanovski has lived there for years.
The common opponent makes this matchup fun to argue about. Volkanovski’s second reign has been built on back-to-back Fight of the Night decisions over Diego Lopes. Evloev also beat Lopes and also took home Fight of the Night for it. Before that, the American Top Team-based Russian picked off former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling nearly two years ago.
Evloev also brought up life after the fight. Volkanovski recently floated lightweight champion Justin Gaethje as a fantasy retirement fight for both men. Evloev doesn’t expect a rematch request if he wins. He thinks Volkanovski will chase Gaethje either way, and says the Australian has earned that fight. “I can beat him and he still can have a chance to fight Justin because he deserves it,” Evloev said. He shut down the champ-versus-champ version of it, though. In Evloev’s telling, Volkanovski would be walking into that fight without the featherweight belt.
My take: I love this. A fighter tells the guy across from him that the scorecards are his turf, and the guy answers by promising to take it to the cards on purpose. Most challengers would get defensive about never finishing anyone in the UFC. Evloev treats it like his résumé. The one thing that bugs me is how thin his evidence is past 15 minutes. One five-rounder, and it was a majority decision after more than a year off. Volkanovski has gone 25 minutes with Lopes twice and come out with the belt both times. If Evloev’s wrestling is still sharp in the fourth round in Abu Dhabi, he leaves with the belt. If it starts slowing down, the champ’s “miscalculation” turns out to be a pretty accurate read.
