Movsar Evloev (Russian: Мовсар Магомедович Евлоев, born February 11, 1994) is a Russian mixed martial artist currently competing in the featherweight division of the UFC. A professional since 2014, he has also competed at M-1 Global, where he is the former bantamweight champion.

Early life

Evloev was born into a family of four brothers and one sister - one of them being Selem Evloev, who also is a mixed martial artist who competes at M-1 Global. He is also a close relative of two-time Greco-Roman World Champion Musa Evloev. Movsar also trained Greco-Roman wrestling and earned Master of Sports recognition. In 2014, he turned professional in mixed martial arts.

Mixed martial arts career

Prior competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Evloev spent all his time in M-1 Global.

On April 22, 2017, Evloev faced Alexey Nevzorov for the M-1 Global Interim Bantamweight championship.[5] He knocked out Nevzorov in the second round to claim the title.

Evloev then faced Pavel Vitruk for the undisputed title on July 22, 2017. He defeated Vitruk by unanimous decision to unify the championship.

Following his championship victory, Evloev's first title defense was held in February 2018, 2018, against Sergey Morozov. He defeated him with a rear-naked choke in the third round.

In his next title defense, he faced Rafael Dias on July 21, 2018. He knocked Dias out in the fifth round to retain his belt.

On April, he vacated the championship and signed with the UFC.

Evloev was scheduled to make his promotional debut against Muin Gafurov on April 20, 2019 at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Oleinik. However, Gafurov was replaced by Seung Woo Choi after a violation to his contract with ONE Championship. He won the bout by unanimous decision.

Evloev was then scheduled to face Mike Grundy on August 31, 2019 at UFC on ESPN+ 15. However, Grundy pulled out of the bout on August 19 citing an injury and was then set to be replaced by Zhenhong Lu. Hours out of the fight, Lu pulled out after suffering a cut.

In his second UFC appearance, Evloev faced Enrique Barzola on October 26, 2019 at UFC on ESPN+ 20. He won the fight by unanimous decision.

Evloev was then slated to face Douglas Silva de Andrade on March 7, 2020 at UFC 248. However, Andrade pulled out of the fight and was set to be replaced by Jamall Emmers. On February 26, Evloev pulled out of the contest for unknown reasons.

Evloev faced Mike Grundy on July 26, 2020 at UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Till. He won the fight by unanimous decision.