Movsar Evloev hasn’t won the UFC featherweight title yet, and he’s already putting a fence around the division.
At UFC 333 media day on Wednesday, the unbeaten Russian was asked whether he’d want a future fight with Arman Tsarukyan, the longtime lightweight contender who has teased a drop to 145 pounds in the past. Evloev’s answer, in a clip from Meta Fight with a Russian-to-English translation by FREAK.MMA, was an open invitation with a property line attached.
“If Arman wants to come down to featherweight, like I said, it’s my territory,” Evloev said. “Whether Arman comes down or someone moves up, I don’t know, it makes no difference who I fight. Make 145 and we’ll fight, if the UFC wants that fight, of course.”
That last clause matters to him. Evloev spent a good chunk of the answer explaining that he has never mapped out his own career. “In my whole career, I’ve considered zero potential fights, because it was never up to me,” he said. “I fought whoever they gave me, and this time nothing will change.”
He also offered the most honest job description you’ll hear all week: “I’m just a gladiator, as primitive as that may sound.”
Saturday first
None of this goes anywhere unless Evloev gets through Alexander Volkanovski in Saturday’s main event. That’s a big ask. Volkanovski is 18-1 at featherweight across a 14-year career, with three wins over Max Holloway and one over Jose Aldo, and his name comes up in every best-featherweight-ever argument right next to those two. Ilia Topuria is the only featherweight who has beaten him. Evloev would be the second.
Evloev’s own résumé holds up. He’s 20-0 as a pro, with 10 of those wins in the UFC, and the names on the list are legit: Lerone Murphy in his most recent fight, plus Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen, Diego Lopes and Dan Ige.
He’s keeping the legacy talk on ice, too. Evloev said taking the belt now would only be the start of becoming one of the best featherweights, and that even two title defenses wouldn’t settle it, depending on who those defenses come against. “But first, I need to settle this question with the belt, and then think about how to become the best featherweight in history,” he said.
As for Tsarukyan, he’s still waiting on his next assignment, and his stated hope is a shot at 155-pound champion Justin Gaethje. The featherweight idea is his own past tease, and nothing Evloev said points to anything in the works.
I’ll take this answer every day of fight week. No emoji, no vague hints, no wish list of opponents. Evloev basically told a top lightweight that the door is open, the scale says 145, and the UFC holds the keys. Whether Tsarukyan ever wants to cut that weight is his problem. Evloev’s problem is a two-time Holloway conqueror (three times, actually) on Saturday night, and if he solves that one, the territory talk stops being a hypothetical.
