If Movsar Evloev dethrones Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 333, he has a long list of potential featherweight title challengers ahead of him—and maybe one notable lightweight.
Longtime lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan awaits his next assignment, with the hopes that he’ll get his shot at 155-pound champion Justin Gaethje; however, Tsarukyan has also previously teased a move down to 145 pounds in the past. Evloev gets his crack at Volkanovski this Saturday’s main event, and he was asked at media day whether he’d be interested in a fight with Tsarukyan in the future.
“In my whole career, I’ve considered zero potential fights, because it was never up to me,” Evloev said (clip via Meta Fight, Russian-to-English translation via FREAK.MMA). “I fought whoever they gave me, and this time nothing will change. They decide everything. I’m just a gladiator, as primitive as that may sound. We’re here to fight, and we fight when the management wants it. Yes, along the way, we take belts, make money, get popular, all that. We sign up for that ourselves, but we don’t decide anything here, especially me.
“If Arman wants to come down to featherweight, like I said, it’s my territory. 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.”
Evloev has already beaten several top-ranked fighters to earn his championship opportunity, including Lerone Murphy, Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen, Diego Lopes, and Dan Ige. His most recent win over Murphy pushed his pro record to 20-0, with 10 of those wins coming in the UFC.
Alongside Jose Aldo and Max Holloway, Volkanovski is frequently brought up in debates around who is the best fighter ever to compete at 145 pounds. Over the course of his 14-year career, Volkanovski is 18-1 as a featherweight, with three wins over Holloway and a win over Aldo.
Evloev can join Ilia Topuria as the only featherweights to beat Volkanovski, but even if he pulls off that historic feat, he’s not making any grand pronouncements about his legacy just yet.
“I think that me taking the belt now won’t make me the best featherweight, because it’ll be the beginning of me becoming one of the best featherweights, and even two title defenses won’t be enough,” Evloev said. “It’ll also depend on who I defend against. So we could talk about this for a very long time.
“But first, I need to settle this question with the belt, and then think about how to become the best featherweight in history.”
