By almost every measure imaginable, Movsar Evloev should have fought for the UFC featherweight title in 2025.
An undefeated record with numerous wins over ranked competition, including recent victories over Aljamain Sterling and Arnold Allen had the Russian ranked at the top of the division, yet somehow he was seemingly never in contention. Instead, the UFC booked him against new arrival Aaron Pico, who signed in free agency, and it was almost like the promotion was punishing him for using a wrestling-heavy style that didn’t exactly produce the most exhilarating highlights.
But then Evloev fell out of the fight with Pico and effectively disappeared for the remainder of the year before being booked for the UFC London main event against Lerone Murphy. So what happened?
“After the fight with Sterling, I get home, then take maybe one month break and then bring myself back to the gym,” Evloev told MMA Fighting. “Start my camp again, I was waiting for the fight, just asking for the fight. They gave me the fight for May. It was a good time for me, I was ready to fight. They gave me Pico and just for some reason they replace it for July. My camp was too big. Then I moved to Thailand, I didn’t stop my training.
“Maybe my body was tired, my immune system goes low and then I got some type of virus, COVID or something, and I started to feel so bad. We decided to not fight because it was impossible. Even easy, easy exercise made me feel so bad. I wasn’t in shape to fight with the guy, especially a big wrestling guy because I felt so bad.”
The mystery virus attacked Evloev’s entire body, but in particular, it ravaged his cardiovascular system. Even when it appeared that he was recovered, he still couldn’t quite catch his breath.
Time after time, doctors told Evloev he was medically cleared and ready to return to the gym and on each occasion he had to return to tell them something was still wrong with him. The sickness dragged on for so long that Evloev was concerned that perhaps he had fought for the final time in his career.
“Every time when I feel good, even doctors tell me you’re good to go to train and everything,” Evloev said. “Then I got to the gym and I start to feel it again. I don’t know why. All results, exams saying my body is OK.
“With some easy cardio, the feeling came back. I have thoughts, so I’m not going to fight again?”
Of course, Evloev is no stranger to this kind of adversity after going through past illnesses and surgery, which always chips away at the body and a fighter’s long-term health prospects. This situation was understandably scary, but Evloev had endured similar issues in the past that gave him the mental toughness to get through it.
“Yeah [I was worried] but I have a lot of things like that,” Evloev said. “Surgery on my knee, I have two times COVID before that. I have a lot of time to feel the same. I’m kind of used to it.”
It wasn’t until a few months after he was first diagnosed that Evloev finally started feeling like himself again. The false starts getting back in the gym too soon kept him sidelined longer than expected, but thankfully, the 31-year-old Russian never gave up hope.
Eventually, Evloev returned to the gym and he was able to start handling more and more exertion on his body. He started to feel normal again and that’s when Evloev got anxious to restart his career with the chase to become UFC champion.
“After three months, I started to feel much better and then I started training easy, easy and then we feel OK,” Evloev said. “It took three months, even a little more to recover from this stuff. Then I came back to the gym in America, I was staying here waiting for a fight and finally we have the fight.”
The fight against Murphy is Evloev’s first in 15 months. More than anything, Evloev just wanted to get busy again, which is why he didn’t make a public plea about getting passed over for a title shot.
As much as he wants to fight for UFC gold, Evloev trusts he will get his opportunity when the time is right. Considering everything he went through in the second half of 2025, he knows the timing would have been potentially disastrous if he tried to face somebody like Alexander Volkanovski in a five-round title fight when he was far from his best.
“I didn’t [fight] so the UFC knows better,” Evloev said. “They gave another chance to the guy who I beat before. He lost it. Now it’s my turn. People are asking, ‘Why you don’t fight?’ It [doesn’t] depend on me.”
“The guy” Evloev beat was Diego Lopes, who got his second crack at becoming champion in a somewhat confusing matchup booked for UFC 325 in January. Lopes had just lost to Volkanovski 10 months earlier, but was given a rematch before the reigning featherweight champion had a chance to book another fight.
The results were the same with Volkanovski winning a unanimous decision except this time he put on an even more dominant performance over Lopes.
“To be honest, I like the first fight more,” Evloev said about Volkanovski vs. Lopes. “After that fight, I see nothing changes from the first fight. The second was worst than the first. Diego shows us that he did all he can but it wasn’t enough.”
When it comes to his own title aspirations, Evloev is confident that beating Murphy in March should put him in a prime position to fight for the belt before 2026 concludes.
While Lopes getting a rematch when more viable contenders were available was always perplexing, it’s not something Evloev spends much time thinking about. In fact, Evloev puts the responsibility on his own shoulders because if he had been able to go out and beat Pico this past July, maybe he would have been granted the chance to face Volkanovski in January.
“I don’t feel anything like that,” Evloev said about possibly being angry that he was passed over. “Because I lost my chance with pulling out.
“The UFC has reason to give that title shot to another [person], and at that time, Lopes just knocked out [Jean Silva], who was coming with five knockouts or something. He deserved it. A lot of people like to see his fights. They did it. Now it’s our turn.”
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