Movsar Evloev doesn’t have the UFC featherweight title yet, but he’s already being asked who gets the first crack at it. Yahoo Sports reported Sunday that Evloev talked through potential challengers he could face if he takes the belt from Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 333 this Saturday in Abu Dhabi.
The report’s headline doesn’t say which contenders he went through, so we won’t guess and pin names on him. Still, the idea of Evloev with gold around his waist is closer than it’s ever been. That alone is worth a sentence, because it took this guy a long, long time to get here.
Evloev is 20-0 as a pro and 10-0 in the UFC since debuting in 2019. Ten wins before a title shot is a lot. His last four came against Lerone Murphy, Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen and Diego Lopes, and Lopes then jumped ahead of him in line and fought Volkanovski twice for the belt. Yahoo’s Kevin Iole-style column on Farid Basharat this week made the same point bluntly, noting it took Evloev 10 wins to get here. Basharat, by the way, just got let go at 16-0.
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The knock on Evloev has always been the same. Zero UFC finishes. No knockouts, no submissions, plenty of inactivity between fights. He told MMA Fighting’s José Youngs he’s been working on finishing since his last win, and he didn’t rule it out against Volkanovski.
“Now, maybe my first finish in my first title fight, why not? I have everything to do that,” Evloev said.
He also made clear he isn’t going to abandon what works just to chase a highlight. Volkanovski, a two-time champion, has said Evloev’s wrestling won’t be enough and that he can’t beat him on the cards. Evloev’s answer was patience, and a little spite.
“I have a responsibility,” he told MMA Fighting. “My whole republic, my whole country waiting for me to bring that title. OK, so for me, all of this is more important than just my ego, so maybe I will take the belt and then we will play around, like taking risks or something.”
To MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn, he put it even more plainly: “I was looking for finish. But when I hear that kind of talk, I don’t want to finish. I want to prove that he’s not special.”
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He did leave the door open for a stoppage that comes off the grappling, saying any knockout would come because his wrestling works well enough to make Volkanovski tired. “But he’s saying he will take my confidence. Nobody can,” he added.
There’s another wrinkle on the champion’s side. Volkanovski has pitched a retirement superfight against Justin Gaethje for the lightweight title, which tells you he’s already thinking about life after 145.
My take: Evloev picking out challengers is a fun exercise, but look at that resume. Murphy, Allen and Lopes are all guys he’s already beaten, and he did it the hard way, round after round, with nobody in the building buying a ticket for his walkout. If he wins Saturday, the most interesting contender at featherweight might be whoever figures out how to stop a takedown for 25 minutes. Nobody has done it in 20 tries.
