Movsar Evloev has heard the knock on him, and he isn’t losing sleep over it. Speaking to MMA Fighting ahead of his UFC 333 title shot against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, the unbeaten contender said winning the belt matters far more to him than finally getting his first stoppage inside the Octagon.
“My whole republic, my whole country, are waiting for me to bring that title. So for me, all of this is more important than just my ego,” Evloev said, in a clip MMA Fighting posted on X.
The fight headlines UFC 333 next Saturday, Oct. 24, at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Evloev is 10-0 in the UFC, and every one of those wins has gone the distance. He was blunt about the math.
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“I have zero finishes in the UFC, but I’m still in UFC and I’m fighting for the title, so that means that not just finishes is important,” he said. He added that a fight can still be exciting without a stoppage, pointing to “the beauty of wrestling” and crediting knowledgeable fans for keeping him employed. “There are so many good fans who know MMA and they understand and maybe because of them I’m still in the UFC,” Evloev said.
A Finish Isn’t Off the Table
Evloev didn’t rule out changing that stat line in Abu Dhabi. He said he and his team have worked on finishing since his last win, and he chalked up the long wait partly to his style and partly to the quality of the people across from him.
“None of them is easy to finish. Even just to win them is already a big deal, right?” he said. “Now, maybe my first finish in my first title fight, why not? I have everything to do that.”
The comments have already drawn a response from the champ. MMA Junkie reported that Volkanovski answered Evloev’s remark about decisions, though the headline is all that’s available so far on what he said.
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Evloev has also shaken up his routine for this camp. MiddleEasy reported he moved out of gym accommodation to focus on recovery, saying distance from the gym helps him avoid overtraining before the biggest fight of his career.
Sal’s Take
I’ve lost money betting on guys trying to prove a point, and Evloev clearly has no interest in being one of them. Ten fights, ten decisions, ten wins. That’s a consistency you can set a watch by, and a fighter who says out loud that he’d rather grind out a belt than chase a knockout is telling you exactly how he plans to beat Volkanovski. Believe him. The “maybe my first finish” line is a nice quote for fight week, but when you’re shopping method-of-victory markets, the smart read on Evloev is the one he’s handed us 10 times in a row: if he wins, it’s going to the cards. My advice is to keep your stoppage money in your pocket until Saturday.
