Movsar Evloev Says Yair Rodriguez, Jean Silva Have To Beat Him to Fight for Title

Movsar Evloev isn’t letting anyone jump the featherweight title queue ahead of him.

Evloev is riding a nine-fight winning streak in the UFC with wins over the likes of Dan Ige, Arnold Allen, Diego Lopes and Aljamain Sterling. However, Evloev is still not the most obvious contender at 145 pounds, which he thinks is due to lack of finishes on his resume.

Meanwhile, the featherweight title picture changed drastically at UFC 314 last weekend when Alexander Volkanovski won the vacant title against Diego Lopes in the main event. Evloev has no doubt that Volkanovski will agree to fight him, which the champ has already admitted. However, the undefeated Russian isn’t sure if the UFC wants the matchup.

Meanwhile, Yair Rodriguez is calling for a title shot after foiling Patricio Freire’s promotional debut at UFC 314. Previously unranked Jean Silva is also rallying for a gold bid after five straight finishes in the UFC. While Evloev is unsure of his title shot, he wants Rodriguez or Silva to at least go through him in order to fight for the title.

“I believe if we ask Volkanovski, he will fight [me]. Because he is real champ,” Evloev told MMAjunkie.com. “But we don’t know if UFC [wants] it… The only thing they can talk [about] is just [that] I have no finishes… If [Yair Rodriguez] wants to fight for the title, you have to beat me first and then you deserve it… Maybe they will give it to [Jean Silva]. But like I said, if you have [a] contender who deserves it more than I, just let me test him.”