Volkanovski On Training With Evloev Before UFC 333

Alexander Volkanovski and Movsar Evloev sparred together years before their UFC 333 featherweight title fight was booked.

The two crossed paths when Volkanovski was preparing for his 2017 bout with Jose Aldo and Evloev was wrapping up a bantamweight title run with M-1 Challenge, MMA Fighting reported. Evloev told the outlet he dropped rounds with the Australian at a shared gym before Volkanovski opened his own facility in Thailand.

Volkanovski Promises Best Performance Against Evloev

Volkanovski dismissed the relevance of those old sessions. "You can't go off training sessions then," he said. "As he said, he would have been young. All I worry about is how he's been looking in his last few performances." The 37-year-old champion added that he plans to deliver one of his sharpest outings stylistically when the cage door closes in Abu Dhabi.

Evloev, unbeaten at 20-0 after edging Lerone Murphy by majority decision in March, wants Volkanovski at full strength so critics cannot attribute a potential win to the Australian's decline. "I'm expecting him to be at this level that when I beat him, nobody will say he's not like before," Evloev said.

Volkanovski is in his second featherweight title reign after losing once at 145 pounds in his career and avenging that setback with back-to-back wins over Diego Lopes. The bout takes place Oct. 24 at Etihad Arena.

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• MMA Fighting — Alexander Volkanovski, Movsar Evloev recount past training session ahead of UFC 333 title fight