Barkhatov on Evloev’s Fight: “Murphy Is in Serious Trouble”

Hello everyone! Welcome! You are watching the weekly MMA news discussion on the mma-tv.com portal. My name is Yulia Mirey. Joining me are Artyom Novopavlovsky and the reigning MMA Series featherweight champion Nikita Barkhatov. Hi!

Hello everyone, and welcome!

Greetings to all! Nikita, Yulia, greetings to you both! We are looking at the main event of UFC Fight Night two seventy in London. This is a clash between two undefeated fighters: Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev. It is very possible that this bout will serve as a title eliminator, with the winner facing Alex Volkanovski for the featherweight championship. Nikita, briefly, how do you see this fight? Is this going to be more like a chess match, or will one of the guys take some risks?

So, Movsar is probably going to take the win, right? Stylistically speaking, Movsar is a particularly difficult matchup for Murphy overall. That is exactly why I think that... the win will definitely go to Movsar here, and for Movsar, this will be yet another dominant fight where he wins primarily with his wrestling. This is because Murphy has some very serious problems with wrestling, in my personal opinion. In every single fight where he was forced to wrestle, you could honestly say he was just barely surviving out there. Of course, I haven't watched that many of his fights, but in the ones I did see, he always had problems with wrestling.

Aljamain Sterling recently mentioned that it is unlikely that Movsar will be able to successfully execute his takedown attempts on Lerone. What do you think? Will he mostly be able to overcome the defense and take him down, or will Lerone be the more effective fighter in this specific aspect of the grappling?

Yes, I definitely think he is going to succeed. I just finished watching Murphy's recent fight against Pico, and Pico managed to take him down quite easily. I also made sure to watch his previous fight with Amirkhani as well. There too, Amirkhani had no trouble at all taking Murphy down to the canvas. That is, he won the entire first round through wrestling. That's why I don't see any problems.

The main question for Movsar is that his fights aren't exciting. The last time he fought in the octagon, Dana White remarked that it wasn't the most entertaining fight to watch, to which Movsar directly replied, 'I'm not here to entertain you.' Will he be able to show more this time, and does he even feel the need to do so, when once again a major shot at a top contender fight is officially on the line? try to show something for the audience's sake, instead of just working for the result, as Movsar usually does?

Maybe the fights are a bit tedious for the viewer, but Movsar is doing everything correctly and pragmatically, following his own strategic game plan and fulfilling all the tasks he needs to accomplish. Overall, I truly consider him to be one of the strongest and most capable Russian fighters active today. That is exactly why I am so sure Movsar will stick to the same effective game plan. He certainly won't experiment with new things or try to make the fight look flashy for the crowd. Instead, he will act very pragmatically and do what is necessary to take this fight. The only thing is, yes, all 9 of Movsar's UFC fights have gone to a decision. Of course, this bothers the UFC, especially since they have a new policy now—they want a show. Without a doubt, Movsar will win this fight, and I truly hope he'll finally get a title shot, but I'm afraid the UFC might overlook his achievements and push him aside once again.

Now listen closely, but when you look at Lerone, five out of his last six fights also went all the way to a judge's decision. And because of that, there were also many questions about whether he truly deserves this big shot. There were lingering questions about whether he could actually be considered a top-tier contender in this division. Nevertheless, now he's set to face Movsar Evloev, who currently has almost the exact same record. Movsar has 9 wins in the UFC, and Lerone also has 9, plus 1 draw with Zubaira Tukhugov. If we examine a bit more closely at Murphy, what other things can he surprise us with?

If you take a close look at Murphy—even when I sit back and watch him, the truth is that he actually lost the very first round completely and quite cleanly to a fighter like Amirkhani. At the very start, in the first seconds, he caught his opponent with a knee and knocked him out with it. This unique ability lets him catch his opponents entirely off guard with a sudden and unexpected strike, and that is how he manages to secure his victory.

I have just taken a quick look at a betting site, and the current betting odds for Movsar are sitting at 1.33, while for Murphy they are up at 3.45. So, Nikita, it looks like the vast majority of people clearly agree with your perspective. As for my own view, I personally just firmly believe that he really has to win this. So, here is the specific question that I want to ask you. Last time, he didn't show up for the fight because he was injured. Arman Tsarukyan had a similar situation, we've talked about this. And after that, Movsar didn't get any fights for a long time. Not to mention, he was supposed to fight for the championship title already, but that fight never ended up happening. Overall, this whole situation hasn't done his career any favors in the long run. On the other hand, sometimes people go into fights injured, And they lose. Take Magomed Ankalaev, for example. Well, they say he went into the fight injured, and that's why he lost. So, what do you think is the best possible way to act in this situation, Nikita?

You know, when you look at it that way, this is probably just a standard part of our professional job. Most dedicated athletes actually go into a major fight with some kind of nagging injury they picked up from their training camp. Of course, there are definitely some serious injuries that are simply incompatible with the physical demands of fighting, but there are many others where you can still safely go into the fight—you just need to be much more cautious in certain specific situations. It all depends on the severity of the injury. According to Tapology , I found that Movsar has had 8 canceled fights in the UFC. That's a lot. I believe that is a major reason why the UFC has been hesitant to offer him any new fights. He has remained completely inactive and away from the octagon since twenty twenty four. It is going to be very interesting to see exactly how such a long period of time away from competition will ultimately affect him. I saw a photo of Movsar before the tournament, just recently. And he is currently in remarkably good physical shape. I really think he should come out and show us his true skill level.

But if we discuss his canceled fights, there was one really interesting matchup. Movsar was originally supposed to fight Topuria at UFC 270, but he had to pull out because of COVID. Following that, Topuria lashed out at him on social media. And the Russian fighter promised to get to him at any weight class—featherweight, lightweight, or even welterweight, it didn’t matter to him at all. Could Evloev have put up any resistance against Topuria? And how would Evloev have looked against Topuria?

Yes, I think he could have put up a real fight against Topuria, but Topuria is actually quite familiar with wrestling. It's just that, well, some people say, for example, that Topuria doesn't know how to wrestle. But if you look back at all his early fights, you'll see he mostly wrestled. I mean, it was only much later in his career that he started striking and knocking people out. Earlier on, in almost all of his very first fights, he primarily wrestled—he would always go for the takedown in the very first seconds. I think it really wouldn't have been such an easy fight for Movsar at all. That is to say, he would have definitely had to land a shot.

Who would you make the favorite in this hypothetical matchup?

Yes, I would definitely make Topuria the clear favorite in this fight. That is because he has the ability to both strike and wrestle.

Welcome to UFC 328, where the massive main event will be Khamzat Chimaev versus Sean Strickland, in the exciting co-main event Alexander Volkov takes on Waldo Cortes-Acosta, and we also see the return of our friend Bogdan Guskov. Let's start with the first fight. Khamzat Chimaev versus Sean Strickland. There are currently a lot of memes circulating on social media, especially considering that their rivalry is also on a deeply personal level. What do you think about this matchup, and what are your actual predictions for this fight?

Strickland is, of course, a very good and experienced fighter, but he is simply not the right opponent for Chimaev. Chimaev has an incredibly high level of wrestling, and I believe Chimaev will do exactly what he always does: he will close the distance, take the fight down to the ground, and maintain dominant control. I think, actually, he will manage to inflict even more damage in this matchup than he did during his previous fight. Because the previous fight was very important for him. That is, it was important for him not to lose. So here, I think Chimaev might finish everything faster.

Well, what do you think, is he going to just torture his opponent again? Or will he utilize his elbows in this position here, to inflict a significant amount of blood and physical pain on his opponent?

Honestly, I probably have a mixed opinion about how that matchup would play out. He might work well, yes, let's say, by maintaining his position and not taking any big risks, but Sean Strickland, as we all know, truly knows how to talk, and he might provoke Chimaev to such an extent that at a certain moment, Chimaev will want to inflict a lot more damage on him during the fight.

I also strongly believe that one of the main points to consider here, and the biggest question of all, is whether Khamzat Chimaev's fragile mental state will actually hold up against all the harsh words from Sean Strickland, who has repeatedly called him a terrorist and all sorts of other derogatory things during their buildup. And, as Yulia pointed out, there have been a lot of memes, including some started by Dana White, about how people are already counting how many security guards need to be brought in for the press conferences and so on. Nikit, what do you think... Does Strickland even have a chance? After all, he knows how to surprise people. He surprised the whole world when he became champion against Israel Adesanya, and then he put on such a boring fight against Dricus. What is Sean going to do this time?

"He never wrestles. He consistently outstrikes his opponents in every match. It is not that he simply goes into wild exchanges on the feet

By the way, Khamzat himself called himself a terrorist, and the quote was something like, 'girls love terrorists.' If I were his opponent, I wouldn't want to make Khamzat angry. He looks so scary. Honestly, I don't know where he gets the courage to provoke him like that. I don't get it.

Take Sean Strickland, who often comes into the gym and says, 'I pick the absolute toughest bastard in the gym, the biggest one here.' I go right up to him and say, 'Let's throw down, I want to fight you specifically.' And so, Sean also accused Khamzat of doing the complete opposite, claiming he is just picking much weaker opponents. But I don't think anyone has really managed to verify that. What happens in the gym apparently stays in the gym.

I think, in general, fighters don't really have that—that specific feeling of being afraid of someone else. You're in such a tough sport where you can't afford to be afraid. How could you here... Like, he's the champion, I'm afraid of him, I won't work with him. On the contrary, the stronger the opponent you face, the more you truly want to defeat them. Because by beating them, you basically claim their accolades to rise even higher, allowing you to develop further. That is why I believe that in this sport, you definitely can't be afraid.

I'd like to quote something interesting here. I recently saw a new interview with Alexander Volkov. I don't know exactly when he gave it, but he spoke about when he met Khamzat Chimaev. Chimaev had already started joking around towards him, and Volkov was asked, how did you feel at that specific moment? He said, well, I actually just got scared. I saw him and got scared.

Actually, I think he was just making a joke.

We are aware of Alexander's irony , which he displays for us on social media. Everyone loves him even more for that sense of humor.

Well, yes, let's move on to him then. He'll also be fighting on this same card. His previous fight will be the co-main event against Waldo Cortes-Acosta. What can you say about this? Sasha, we hope, is also on his way to the belt, climbing up the ranks. How do you think this fight should go? No, we already know how it should go. He should win. But what nuances do you see?

This opponent lost to Pavlovich in a rather... highly competitive and closely contested battle. The entirety of the action took place in the stand-up, and after that, Pavlovich was told that from now on he would choose a much more strategic and dependable approach to his future matchups and wouldn't just be simply knocking his opponents out in such a rapid and reckless fashion left and right. Acosta also has significant knockout power in his hands. I think he will act guided almost exclusively by this particular strength, because Volkov, in principle, possesses all the necessary skills and technical tools he needs to win. He has already faced both Pavlovich and Ciryl Gane, who could surprise him with both power and speed, but it's unlikely that Acosta will choose the path of grappling, which seems to be Alexander's weak point. Well, we'll see.

Well, I personally think that Volkov also fought Derrick Lewis back then, and that fight was almost entirely one-sided if only Volkov hadn't relaxed in the very final seconds of the fight. I truly believe Volkov has now greatly expanded his professional fighting arsenal. Volkov can not only work from a distance and pick his opponent apart, but he can also take the fight to the ground and add to his game there. Furthermore, his last fight, where they wrestled for all three rounds, clearly shows that he is developing and his wrestling has already reached a good level. This progression clearly shows he is becoming a much more well-rounded and dangerous fighter.

Although he was mostly defending there, of course, he was also dealing damage.

But he was working from wrestling, yes.

Let's talk about the upcoming fight between Bogdan Guskov and Jan Blachowicz. Finally, their highly anticipated rematch will take place, because many people, including Bogdan's own team, were not certain the rematch would ever happen. They honestly thought he didn't want it. But now he'll be able to show his full power and potential, because, for example, Gor Azizyan believes that Bogdan was robbed in their first encounter. I'm also really looking forward to this fight. I really hope Guskov will be able to show his full potential. What are your thoughts, how do you envision this second matchup unfolding?

I personally think that if Bogdan can just find a way to pick up the pace a bit more, then I believe Bogdan will definitely win this. To be honest, I also felt that the first fight was actually a draw. Bogdan fought a very good fight, but at the same time, he gave too many pauses, and it was during those specific pauses that Blachowicz managed to find the time to fully recover his strength and his composure. That is exactly why I think he just needs to pick up the pace just a little bit more, and Bogdan will win the fight.

Here, it might not even be just about the pace, but more about physical conditioning. From what I have gathered from insiders close to the situation, it seems that Bogdan was feeling quite a bit uncomfortable lately, and there is a chance he was dealing with some specific issues regarding his acclimatization process. But I think that in a 3-round fight, Bogdan is definitely capable of giving 100 percent in every round. And we know that he was close to finishing Jan early. And now, it's unlikely he'll make the same mistake again. Especially since he's already had a fight. He's a young athlete who has a strong desire to become a champion. It even seems like he needs this win more right now than the famous Polish powerhouse does.

For some particular reason, I am honestly quite certain that Bogdan should win the rematch. I originally thought he would win the first fight too. He entered the UFC as a relatively unknown dark horse. Everyone thought that... He would be just an average fighter, but Bogdan is aiming for the top. I think if he keeps going like this, he won't be far from a title shot. That's why he needs to get past Blachowicz and then go for the contender fight.

So, we truly wish a great victory to all of our guys, especially to Movsar. We'll be watching this Saturday. Cheering them on! We would love for you to join us too. We definitely hope to see you again next week. Thank you, guys, for the video discussion.