Daniel Cormier is surprised to see Movsar Evloev not even be in the discussion of the UFC featherweight title picture.
The undefeated Russian fighter hasn’t competed since defeating Aljamain Sterling at UFC 310 in December 2024. Evloev (19-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) was scheduled to face Aaron Pico at UFC on ABC 9 last July but withdrew due to injury.
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Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (27-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) was willing to fight Evloev after claiming the vacant belt with a win over Diego Lopes at UFC 314. However, the champion says the promotion wanted Evloev to fight again, and he instead drew Lopes (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) for a rematch in Saturday’s UFC 325 (Paramount+) headliner at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
“Lord knows what’s going on with Movsar Evloev,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “There’s one guy getting done worse than freaking Arman Tsarukyan; it is Movsar Evloev. He hasn’t even gotten any type of traction towards a championship fight.”
The other top contender vying for a shot is Lerone Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC), whom Volkanovski also welcomed as a challenge. Cormier thought after Murphy knocked out Pico on short notice at UFC 319, he’d get the shot.
“Exactly, so Lerone Murphy because he finally got a finish,” Cormier said. “Because that would seem to have been the thing actually stopping him from getting a title fight because he could be a tad bit boring at times.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC analyst: Movsar Evloev has it worse than Arman Tsarukyan
