Movsar Evloev has a message for Alexander Volkanovski, and it arrived two days before they share a cage.
MMA Sucka reported Thursday that the unbeaten featherweight cautioned the champion ahead of their UFC 333 main event on Saturday, Oct. 24. The exact wording of the warning wasn’t in anything we’ve seen, so we’re not going to put words in his mouth. What we can tell you is that the guy delivering it is 20-0 and doesn’t usually waste breath.
The more telling moment came at Thursday’s press conference. With Volkanovski mid-answer, the crowd started chanting Evloev’s name. Evloev waved them off and told them to respect the champ, according to a clip posted by Championship Rounds. Hard to recall the last challenger who shushed his own fans on behalf of the man he’s trying to beat.
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Volkanovski, for his part, showed up to that same presser dressed as Joe, his character from the Street Fighter movie. Different energy at the dais.
Who Evloev is
Evloev is the No. 2 featherweight, fights out of American Top Team and last competed on March 21. He’s a Master of Sports in Greco-Roman wrestling, the cousin of Olympic gold medalist Musa Evloev, and a former M-1 Global bantamweight champion who defended that belt twice before signing with the UFC in 2019.
His UFC run reads like a list of people who couldn’t solve him: Seung Woo Choi, Enrique Barzola, Mike Grundy, Nik Lentz, Hakeem Dawodu and Dan Ige among them. The Lentz fight went to a split decision, though all 26 media outlets that scored it had Evloev winning.
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Who he’s warning
Volkanovski is 28-4, a two-time UFC featherweight champion and No. 2 on the UFC’s men’s pound-for-pound list as of June. He’s tied with José Aldo for the most featherweight title wins in UFC history and became the oldest man to win the belt at 36, then the oldest to defend it at 37. He last fought Jan. 31.
He’s no stranger to grappling either. Volkanovski won two national Greco-Roman titles at age 12 before he walked away from the sport for rugby league.
He’s also already booked his next trip. Spinnin Backfist reported Volkanovski is heading to Dagestan to film an episode of Cooking With Volk with Islam Makhachev. “We want to do a whole hunting on horseback, catch stuff, cook over a fire....you can just imagine how good that content will be,” he said.
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Saturday decides whether he flies to Dagestan holding the belt or whether a 21-0 Evloev gets to tell the crowd to respect a different champ.
