Evloev allegedly contracted coronavirus ahead of his scheduled
fight against Aaron Pico
last year.
Evloev was scheduled to welcome former Bellator
MMA star Aaron Pico
to the
UFC last August at
UFC 319. However, Evloev pulled out of the matchup with hardly
over two weeks to go before fight night. Evloev recently revealed
that he was forced out of the fight due to coronavirus, the same
virus responsible for the worldwide lockdown in 2020-21. Evloev
claims he was affected by the virus in Thailand and decided to pull
out when even easy exercises made him feel terrible.
Struggling to Train
“Last time I pulled out because of some type of coronavirus in
Thailand,” Evloev told Submission Radio. “I was ready to fight, but
two weeks before the fight I started feeling so bad — even doing
easy exercises made me feel so bad, so I decided to pull out.”
Evloev (19-0) was replaced on short notice by Lerone
Murphy (17-0), who knocked out Pico with a highlight reel
spinning back elbow. Champion Alexander
Volkanovski even said that Murphy might have jumped ahead of
Evloev in the title race with his knockout win over Pico. However,
both Evloev and Murphy were sidelined as Diego Lopes
challenged Volkanovski in a rematch for the title at
UFC 325 last month. Volkanovski defended his title with a
unanimous decision win over Lopes. Evloev and Murphy are now
scheduled to fight in a potential title eliminator in the main
event at
UFC London on March 31 at the O2 Arena.
Movsar
Evloev reveals he pulled out of the Aaron Pico
fight due to coronavirus 🦠😷“Last time I pulled out because of some coronavirus in Thailand. I
was ready to fight, but two weeks before the fight I started
feeling so bad – even easy exercises made me feel terrible, so I…
pic.twitter.com/A1OgM56NDH— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)
February 7, 2026