Former UFC champion TJ Dillashaw said on the “JAXXON PODCAST” that he believed Movsar Evloev gave up during Alexander Volkanovski’s UFC 333 victory.
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Dillashaw, speaking on the “JAXXON PODCAST,” said he couldn’t believe Evloev wasn’t more of a betting favourite ahead of Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight title-fight finish at UFC 333.
“I couldn’t believe he wasn’t more of a favorite,” Dillashaw said. “He wasn’t an underdog, but it was like almost close. I was like, ‘No f*cking way.’ I put some good money on Volk, and I won. I mean, it went down how I thought it was going to go down.”
According to Dillashaw, Volkanovski’s skill in creating movement trouble for opponents makes takedowns difficult to sustain. “Volk is just too calculated. He does a really good job of moving his feet, which is going to be hard for the takedowns to come,” Dillashaw said.
Dillashaw also pointed to what he described as a pattern of Volkanovski reversing positions and getting back to a dominant place after successful attempts. “Yes, we saw some come, but again, bounces right back to his feet,” he said, adding, “We’ve seen that (Islam) Makhachev had trouble holding him down. So how is Evloev going to hold him down?”
In Dillashaw’s view, a key momentum shift came in the second round, when Volkanovski reversed one of Evloev’s takedown attempts and ended up on top. “Round 1, it was good, it was close. But in Round 2, when Volk reversed him off that takedown, he was going to take him down to reach back almost like a switch and ended up on top,” Dillashaw said.
Dillashaw then said he believed Evloev’s mindset changed after Volkanovski secured control, describing a late reaction as the fight wore on. “As soon as that happened, you just seen, like, all of the thought process of Evloev that he was going to win just drained from him. ‘After that, he got hit with some big shots and kind of folded because it wasn’t like he was super hurt. He just kind of gave up and covered,’” Dillashaw said.
He added that, from his own perspective, Evloev’s response suggested he had stopped contesting for the belt. “I would have been fighting back for the life of me to try to get that belt, but after he got reversed, in my opinion, is like, ‘F*ck, Volk’s too good for me,'” Dillashaw said.
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