Casual!
No. 1-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight Movsar Evloev finally returns to action this weekend (Sat., March 21, 2026), taking on No. 3-ranked Lerone Murphy in the main event of UFC London inside the O2 Arena in London, England.
With nine wins over high-level competition inside the Octagon, there’s no denying Evloev is one of the best Featherweights in the world. However, there’s one glaring knock on his resume — zero finishes — which has led many fans to label him as a “boring”
fighter.
Evloev isn’t buying that narrative.
“Only casual people think I’m boring; they don’t understand what MMA really is,” Evloev said during UFC London media day. “People who know the game understand how hard it is to stay undefeated at this level. Being No. 1 ranked is no joke. I’m always looking for finishes, but maybe it’s just not my style. I make my opponents tired with my technical work. At the end of the day, victory is the most important thing, right?”
He doubled down on that mindset.
“If there’s a finish and I don’t win — like if my opponent finishes me — maybe fans will be happy because it’s exciting, but not me. I don’t accept that,” Evloev said. “If my only way to win [is to wrestle], then I would be stupid not to use it. But I will use everything that works — you will see Saturday night.”
While the lack of finishes has hurt Evloev’s reputation among fight fans, his recent fights tell a different story. His bouts against Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen, and Diego Lopes were all fun to watch and featured high-level grappling exchanges that hardcore fans can appreciate.
Still, the question remains:
Will Evloev finally get his first UFC finish this weekend?
Oddsmakers don’t seem convinced, with the odds of a finish currently sitting at +380.
Time will tell.
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