Movsar Evloev already conceded that he wasn’t getting a title shot after revealing that he had accepted a fight at UFC Abu Dhabi but even one more win doesn’t necessarily guarantee him receiving an opportunity to become champion.
On Wednesday, the UFC officially announced Evloev facing ex-Bellator fighter Aaron Pico in a five-round co-main event headed to Abu Dhabi in July. While he hyped up the card and the importance surrounding this particular fight, UFC CEO Dana White stopped short of flat out declaring that another win would guarantee Evloev a title shot.
“If Movsar can get the victory, he will likely be the next contender for the title against Alexander Volkanovski,” White said. “Expect this fight to be an absolute war.”
Now this could just be White learning from his past experience when he announces certain fights determining a new No. 1 contender and then being criticized when that doesn’t actually come to fruition.
That said, Evloev has quietly gained a lot of fan support for his status as the most rightful challenger for the featherweight title after starting his UFC career with a perfect 9-0 record including wins over Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen and Diego Lopes.
Unfortunately, his resume still wasn’t good enough to pull the trigger on a title fight against reigning featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who publicly campaigned for Evloev to get the next shot at the belt.
All signs have recently pointed towards Yair Rodriguez potentially getting another crack at the belt despite just a 1-2 record in his past three fights, which includes a one-sided shellacking delivered by Volkanovski back in 2023.
The UFC hasn’t made any official announcements regarding Volkanovski’s next opponent but with Evloev now booked for a five-round fight in July, it seems more and more likely Rodriguez might actually get that opportunity.
As for Evloev, he’ll just have to hope he can vanquish Pico in July and then wait and see if his number gets pulled to eventually fight for a UFC title in the near future.
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