A UFC Hall of Famer and former opponent of Alexander Volkanovski has taken a surprising stance on Volkanovski’s UFC 333 opponent Movsar Evloev.
Scheduled to take place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE this Saturday, UFC 333 will see Evloev finally get his long-awaited featherweight title shot when he challenges Volkanovski in the card’s main event.
Following back-to-back wins over Diego Lopes, future UFC Hall of Famer Volkanovski is aiming to defend the featherweight belt for a second time after also collecting an impressive five title defenses during his first championship reign.
UFC Legend Jose Aldo Argues That UFC Should Cut Movsar Evloev
The UFC faced a heavy amount of criticism when Lopes was booked to meet Volkanovski in the first defense of his second title reign at UFC 325, as “The Great” had already defeated Lopes in a fight for the vacant belt less than a year prior.
The undefeated Evloev has seemingly been knocking on the door of a title fight for years at this point, but this week featherweight legend Jose Aldo declared that he would cut the Russian star if he was in charge of the UFC.
“The UFC isn’t just an organization that has to follow a ranking system,” Aldo explained to MMA Fighting. “It’s a business, it’s entertainment. It’s not a matter of, ‘I’m number one, so I have to fight for the title.’…Evloev is ranked No. 1 in the division, if I’m not mistaken, and if I were the president, I’d never put him in there. He could beat everybody. I’d wait for him to lose for the first time and then cut him because he’s a guy who doesn’t sell, a guy who puts on boring fights, a guy who doesn’t draw attention, who just stays inactive. So why would I give him that opportunity? I want to sell out my arena. I want my event to grow. There’s a lot involved.”
UFC Just Parted Ways With Undefeated Farid Basharat Last Week
Aldo’s comments about Evloev come at an interesting time for discussions around the UFC roster, as last week saw the promotion formally part ways with undefeated bantamweight contender Farid Basharat following a 7-0 run in the UFC.
A former M-1 Global titleholder, Evloev joined the UFC in 2019 and has gone a perfect 10-0 with the promotion to bring his overall MMA record to 20-0.
The 32-year-old welcomed the aforementioned Lopes to the UFC in a “Fight of the Night”-winning scrap at UFC 288 before he defeated Arnold Allen, and UFC 310 also saw Evloev best a former UFC titleholder in Aljamain Sterling.
Could Alexander Volkanovski Retire After UFC 333?
Evloev’s last outing at UFC London saw him take a unanimous decision over Lerone Murphy in a battle between undefeated fighters, and while that victory did preserve his perfect record it also extended his streak of going to the judges’ scorecards in every one of his UFC fights.
If Evloev is able to unseat Volkanovski at UFC 333, it could potentially be the last time that fans see the 38-year-old Australian compete in the Octagon.
“The Great” previously defeated UFC Hall of Famer Aldo in 2019, and two other former Aldo opponents will also be in action in the UFC 333 co-main event when Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili meet in a trilogy bout for the UFC bantamweight title.
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