Movsar Evloev has a difficult time getting to England for his UFC London main event on Saturday.
Evloev is set to headline the Fight Night card against Lerone Murphy in a title eliminator bout at featherweight. However, leading up to the fight, there were rumors that Evloev might be out due to visa issues. Yet, he ended up getting to England later on in the week, but he isn’t going to use the hectic travel as an excuse.
“I wasn’t worried about getting here because trust me, I tried to get here probably more than anybody else in the history of trying to get to London,” Evloev told MMA Junkie. “I was like the No. 1 trier to get to London. That’s not what really what was on my mind. What I was more worried about is that I need to come out and I need to fight. I need to show people, I need to show everybody, because I’m a competitor, I really like the competition aspect of it.
“I wanted to show the people the levels. The work that I put in to get where I am. This No. 1 next to my name is not there just because it looks pretty. It’s there because this is what I worked for. … All I was hoping was that I would come out here and show the levels that I have.”
Movsar Evloev just focused on UFC London
Luckily for Evloev, he was able to get to England, and his fight against Murphy will happen on Saturday as scheduled.
The undefeated Russian fighter said what he had to do to get to the fight was a lot, but it isn’t something he’s going to discuss before the fight, as his sole focus is on Murphy.
“It’s more than just VISAs and documents and other things that I had to go through in the past couple weeks that I went through. Which I do not want to talk about,” Evloev said. “It’s not the time to talk about them right now. Maybe afterwards, after the fight, if somebody is interested, I can reveal a couple things I had to deal with. But it wasn’t just important to get here. What was important was to get here and show that I’ve been preparing for this. And show that none of the things that got in the way affected my preparation or my level that I would like to show.
“Not just with the documents. But just in general, the amount of stuff I had to deal with, I couldn’t even sit down with my family and talk with them about how they’re doing. I wasn’t online just sitting on my phone.”
Evloev will now get the chance to prove he deserves the next title shot at featherweight with a win over Murphy at UFC London.
Do you think Movsar Evloev will beat Lerone Murphy at UFC London? Sound off in the comment section, PENN Nation!