Despite an undefeated record, including nine consecutive UFC victories, Movsar Evloev has not scored his next shot in the featherweight title.
He revealed in a social media post that he appreciated the champion Alexander Volkanovsky, who is seeking a fight between them, was pushing for the fight between them. As Evloev was out of the picture, all the signs point to Yair Rodriguez getting a chance instead.
That scenario may be upsetting for Evloev, but UFC legend Matt Brown says it’s business as usual, for promotions built on entertainment rather than sports.
“It’s entertainment that you have to decide what you want to see. This isn’t necessarily what the UFC is, or what the UFC is, if you want to see real sports,” Brown said in the latest episode of ” Fighter jet vs. writer. “The real sports will have rankings from third parties. They will have essential challengers. They will have a lot of things the UFC doesn’t have.
“Because they didn’t build a company based on sports. Sports is what they sell, but the actual competitive ranks and how to make matches is not sports. They removed the tournament a long time ago.”
Brown argues that Rodriguez has won a title shot against Evloev is really just doing what the UFC is doing all the time, and that it’s a better fight for business.
On paper, Evloev has definitely done more to deserve a title shot, but Brown understands that the main goal of the UFC is to make money, and that keeps investors happy with the company that is traded.
On top of that, Brown insists that hardcore fans may be upset that Evloev hasn’t gotten a title shot, but the majority of the audience really don’t know him.
“Unfortunately for a guy like Movsar, you have to be a real fan even to know who he is (he’s having a winning streak and he can threaten (champion),” Brown said. “The truth is, most people don’t know his name. You go to the bar and mention Movsar Evloev. No one knows what you’re talking about.
“Again, you can’t necessarily diss UFC or hate them the way they do it. It’s f*cks people like Movsar. He’s become Sean O’Malley and isn’t trying to make pretty small social media videos. Also.”
Evloev is not the most popular or polarized character in the UFC, so you may have to work twice as hard to get a title shot compared to someone like Rodriguez.
That being said, Brown recognizes that fighters in similar positions to past Evloevs have found a way to break through and get attention without having to make the most entertaining battle.
“It’s definitely the entertainment industry,” Brown explained. “That’s entertainment that they sell. They don’t sell sports. If you can retreat and see it like that, you can recognize the reality of the situation. So Movsar hasn’t gotten a title shot. He should know that. He’s in the entertainment industry.
“When I saw someone like Colby (Covington) realising it, he realised it. No one wanted Chael Sonnen to have a title shot until he started talking about having a barbecue with Anderson Silva.”
Throughout his nine battles in the UFC, Evloev has not built a reputation as a ridiculous garbage speaker and has made a decision with all his victories. Brown, whether he likes it or not, is a bad combination that works for Evloev to win a title shot.
“Things can be interesting in a thousand different ways,” Brown said. “But what’s not interesting is not talking about boring battles or playing boring battles.”
Of course, Evloev is not the first contender passed for the title shot, and he is not the last.
Brown says that it’s the best evidence that the UFC holds all the cards in these situations, and will bring about a fundamental change in the way they do business to do anything different.
“The UFC is building this brand and controlling the sport,” Brown said. “Whether you like it or not, there’s a lawsuit about it, but you don’t have to go all out about it, but there’s a lawsuit about it specifically. If you love the UFC, that’s the way things do. That’s the way things do. They’re business.
“My ultimate point is, if people want to complain about it, you’ll have to try to change the whole sport. It’s up to you. You’re going to do your research. You have to look into people against the UFC trying to change things, especially you actually own a business.