UFC 333: Volkanovski praises Evloev's wrestling – 'but it's just not enough for me'
At media day in Abu Dhabi, the featherweight champion calls his unbeaten challenger the division's best wrestler – and says he would even beat him in a pure grappling match.
Photo: MMAnytt / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Video: YouTube · UFC · youtube.com
Alexander Volkanovski paid respect to challenger Movsar Evloev at Wednesday's UFC 333 media day in Abu Dhabi – while still backing himself clearly. Evloev has "incredible wrestling" and is one of the best wrestlers in the UFC and the best in the division, the Australian said, according to MMA Fighting. "It's just not enough for me, you know what I mean?" Even over five rounds of no strikes, just wrestling and grappling, he believes he would beat Evloev.
According to the report, Volkanovski has given up only ten takedowns in his featherweight bouts and won every one of those fights; Islam Makhachev took him down four times in their first meeting, but that was at lightweight. "As soon as he tries to do damage, he's just going to lose me straight away," the champion said.
Evloev, who according to CBS Sports has won all 20 of his professional fights, feels his long wait is over: Volkanovski is "the only champion who called my name." "I was patient. Now I'm here," the challenger said. The title fight headlines UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.