Movsar Evloev has weighed in on Diego Lopes’ performance against Alexander Volkanovski last month.
At UFC 325, Volkanovski defended his featherweight title against Lopes in a rematch, and the fight unfolded much like their first UFC 314 meeting.
‘The Great’ once again had a calculated approach. He stayed out of Lopes’ firing zone, waited for him to commit, and caught the Brazilian with sharp one-twos whenever he intended to land something big.
In 2025, after ‘The Great’ captured the vacant title by defeating Lopes and became a two-time champ, he wanted to make the first defense of his second reign against Evloev or Lerone Murphy, who are both undefeated.
However, the promotion gave Lopes the chance to run it back after the former knocked out Jean Silva at Noche UFC 2025.
Movsar Evloev Says There Was “No Reason” to Give Diego Lopes a Title Rematch
Movsar Evloev thought Lerone Murphy was going to fight for the title originally after the Brit spoiled Aaron Pico’s UFC debut by knocking Pico out in Round 1. However, Lopes got the chance, which “surprised” Evloev, and the result remained the same. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Evloev said:
“And then Murphy win by good performance, then he’s supposed to fight for the title. Then they gave the title shot to Diego again, and okay, no problem. I will wait.”
The Russian fighter then slammed Diego Lopes for not working hard enough and showing no improvements in the rematch.
“Then he showed us nothing changes from the first title fight with Volk. It was no reason to give him that title shot again. But now we know and everybody know also the UFC knows. So now me and Murphy will share the place for number one contender for the title.”
Check out Movsar Evloev’s comments below (2:40):
Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy will lock horns in the main event of UFC London on March 21, and the winner is expected to challenge current and two-time UFC featherweight kingpin Alexander Volkanovski next.
However, Jean Silva, who most recently returned to winning ways, has been calling out the Australian champion. The question now is whether the UFC will once again ignore the top and worthy contenders by granting someone else a title shot. Let’s hope not.