Movsar Evloev Finds Humor After Volkanovski Loss: ‘At Least I Don’t Need to Do More Interviews Now’

It was a light moment after the biggest fight of his career. Evloev had entered the event unbeaten and was finally getting his shot at the UFC featherweight championship. Instead he left Abu Dhabi with the first loss on his professional record.  "At least I don’t have to do anymore interviews,” Evloev joked.

Volkanovski Ends Evloev’s Undefeated Streak

Abu Dhabi hosted the main event on Oct. 24 at UFC 333. Evloev battled to get past the champion before Volkanovski landed the shots to end the contest by second-round TKO. It also marked Volkanovski’s second successful defence of his current featherweight title reign.

It was a hard way for Evloev to lose his unbeaten record. He had won his way into title contention with a string of victories, including a majority decision over Lerone Murphy earlier in the year. The fight against Volkanovski was his first chance to become UFC champion.

A joke after a hard night

Evloev had spoken to the media before and after the title fight. He also met with Daniel Cormier ahead of the event to discuss his long wait for a title shot and the challenge of facing Volkanovski. It was a big week, so his backstage quip about not having to do any more interviews felt like a little joke about all the attention that comes with fighting for a title for the first time.

Evloev's comment on skipping further interviews was a slight relief from the disappointment of the result. The Russian had built up his record over the years and the focus on his first title fight was naturally much greater than normal. He wasn't making the loss itself smaller. The joke was simply a peek of a more relaxed him after a hard night inside the Octagon.

There’s still plenty for Evloev to work toward in the featherweight division, but his unbeaten run is over for now and he will have to regroup before another title challenge.