Movsar Evloev continues to stack wins in the UFC. |
Getty/UFC
If in the first 20 years of the
UFC Brazil and the United States alternated in the position of
greatest MMA powerhouse, from 2025 onwards Russia and countries
from the former Soviet Union have changed this picture.
Even with a much smaller percentage of representatives on the
roster, these fighters today hold five of the 11 UFC belts:
Petr
Yan (Russia), bantamweight; Ilia
Topuria (Georgia), lightweight; Islam
Makhachev (Dagestan), welterweight; Khamzat
Chimaev (Chechnya), middleweight and Valentina
Shevchenko (Kygistan), flyweight). Meanwhile, today Brazil has
one belt (Alex
Pereira) and the United States two (Mackenzie
Dern and Kayla
Harrison).
In the opinion of
American Top Team head coach Conan Silveira, the trend is that
this Russian dominance will expand in 2026 with Movsar
Evloev winning the featherweight belt.
“Jean [Silva] can do whatever he wants, but he won’t get ahead of
Evloev,” the Brazilian coach told Sherdog.com.
Silveira believes Evloev brings the complete package to defeat
reigning champion Alexander
Volkanovski.
“I see him train every day at the gym. It’s the complete MMA
package. Volkanovski won’t be able to stop him,” Silveira said.
Silveira predicts that Evloev will have the most dominant reign
among the current champions from that part of the world.
“He’s only 32 years old and undefeated (20-0), being in a clear
process of physical and technical evolution,” Silveira said. “I
think that after winning the belt he will remain dominant and
active for a long time. I see champions like Chimaev and Islam
clearly in a process of slowing down. Movsar is only at the
beginning of his trajectory.”
Recovery Forecasts
Regarding his two champions who are currently sidelined, Harrison
and Alexandre
Pantoja, Conan believes that both will be back between July and
September.
“It’s impossible to be precise,” he said. “Their case depends on
the doctors’ feedback. For us, the most important thing is that
they are fully recovered and healthy. Pantoja is already slowly
returning to training and I think that, at the latest, between
August and September he will be fighting for his belt. I believe
Kayla will also be back around August or September.”