Movsar Evloev Reveals How Childhood Bullies Helped Shape His Cold-Blooded Personality

Combat sports movies love the same storyline: a kid gets bullied, turns that anger into fuel, and grows into a fighting legend. Movsar Evloev's story looks a lot like that. The Russian is undefeated, and nobody has beaten him inside the cage. His childhood was a different story. He was bullied growing up, and that experience helped make him the fighter he is today.

Movsar Evloev Opens Up About His Brutal Childhood Before Becoming a UFC Star

Evloev's childhood was rough. Ahead of UFC 333, talking to Nina Marie Daniele, he stated that he rarely left the house, because stepping outside meant getting jumped by kids on his street, and he says it was never a real fight, just a beating. School brought no escape. He started high school roughly two years ahead of his classmates, which made him the youngest and smallest in the room. Back then, he said, even girls were able to push him around.

Evloev said, “Staying home without going outside because if I go, everybody in my street kick my ass... They don't fight, they just beat... But I went to high school too early, like two years younger than my classmates... That's why even girls at that time could bully me.”

For those who don’t know, Evloev isn't the only one. Plenty of fighters were bullied as kids, and a surprising number of them grew into absolute legends, including Georges St-Pierre, Daniel Cormier, and Ronda Rousey. It says a lot about how anyone can turn that pain into fuel and rise above it.

Movsar Evloev Admits He Used to Fear Small Rooms and Dark Places

Evloev is afraid of small rooms and dark places. That's a surprising admission from a fighter who is unbeaten at 20-0 and has beaten big names like Aljamain Sterling, Diego Lopes, and Lerone Murphy.

Evloev stated, “I just pushed myself and I did things which I scared to do a lot like thousand of times like even when I like you know have when somebody choke me you know the the feeling when you all almost like going like sleep I start enjoying this moment too you know and even there I don't get panic and when I got some heavy punch and I see nothing around like even there I can like control myself. So it's just you know about controlling you.”

Asked how he got past his fear, Evloev said he kept facing the things that scared him, over and over. These days, even when someone has him in a choke or he takes a hard punch and can barely see, he stays calm and keeps control instead of panicking.