Alexander Volkanovski has been coy about his past sparring sessions with Movsar Evloev, as the pair prepare to do battle at UFC 333.
On Saturday, the featherweights will headline in Abu Dhabi as Volkanovski defends his title against the unbeaten Russian. A victory for the Australian would extend his second reign with the belt, but some odds have the fight as a 50-50 clash.
Ahead of the bout, in which both fighters are 10/11 to win per Betway, Volkanovski addressed the fact that he previously sparred with Evloev, 32.
“I’m not one to talk, I’m not one to talk,” Volkanovski, 38, told Red Corner MMA. “Do you know what I mean?
“Again, it was a long, long time ago. He was only young, but yeah, I’ll leave it at that.”
When asked whether he could have foreseen Evloev becoming a UFC title challenger, the Aussie said: “Well, look, I didn’t know. I think he was the M1 Global... they had a promotion, he was the champion then.
“But again, yeah, he was young. We’re both much better; he’s much better than back then, so you can’t go by how that training session went. I’m expecting a much tougher Movsar, a much more well-rounded, fit Movsar.
“Na, I guess back then, no, I wouldn’t have thought [he’d fight for a UFC title]. But now, through watching him through the UFC, I knew that he would be coming through. You could see that he was a very good fighter.
“I think he should’ve got a title shot before this weekend. He deserved it maybe a year or two ago to be honest, so yeah, glad he gets his shot. He deserves it.”
Volkanovski will enter the Etihad Arena on the back of his second successive win over Diego Lopes, whom he outpointed in January – having also done so in April 2025.
Volkanovski’s first win over Lopes saw him claim the vacant featherweight belt, after Ilia Topuria gave up the gold to end a reign that began with a knockout of “Alexander The Great”. Volkanovski’s second win over Lopes saw him retain the belt.
Meanwhile, Evloev earned his first title shot by controversially outpointing Britain’s Lerone Murphy at UFC London in March. That result capped off the Russian’s return from an injury that kept him out of the cage for 15 months.
Before his time out, Evloev narrowly outpointed ex-bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, building on another controversial decision victory – over Britain’s Arnold Allen. Before those wins, Evloev beat Lopes on points.