The 25-year-old featherweight made his promotional debut in April, earning a unanimous decision win over SeungWoo Choi in St. Petersburg that pushed his record to 11-0. While not the type of explosive debut that gets everyone talking following the event, Evloev’s performance made it clear that the buzz surrounding the former M-1 Challenge standout is real and that he was definitely someone to track in the loaded 145-pound ranks going forward.
Originally slated to face Mike Grundy in what would have been their joint sophomore outings, the Team Kaobon representative was forced out with an injury, leaving Evloev to square off with a familiar name from his past instead, as he welcomes Lv Zhenhong to the Octagon on Saturday night.
The two fought a little over four years ago in what was Evloev’s second professional fight, with the Russian winning a unanimous decision. That loss came in the midst of a rough patch for Lv, who lost two of his next three fights, but has since rattled off 11 victories in his last dozen starts.
Featherweight is brimming with talent, and being stationed on overseas cards always makes it a little more difficult for emerging fighters to make major impact, but Evloev has the skill set to become one of the top prospects in the division and set himself up to make a push towards the rankings next year.
This kid is the goods and you’re going to want to pay attention to him, starting this weekend.
