Dillashaw: Evloev Gave Up Once Volkanovski Reversed Him

Alexander Volkanovski finished Movsar Evloev in their UFC 333 featherweight title fight, and many were taken aback by how it happened. Former UFC champion TJ Dillashaw says the answer is mental: Evloev gave up.

The moment Dillashaw points to

On the "JAXXON PODCAST", Dillashaw called round one good and close. He placed the turn in round two. Volkanovski reversed a takedown attempt and ended up on top.

From there, Dillashaw said, Evloev's belief that he would win seemed to drain away. Evloev took big shots, and in Dillashaw's words he "folded" even though he was not badly hurt.

"He just kind of gave up and covered."

Dillashaw added that he would have fought back for the belt with everything he had. In his opinion, Evloev's thought after the reversal was that Volkanovski was too good for him.

A result he expected

Dillashaw said he could not believe Volkanovski was not more of a favorite. He described him as not quite an underdog, but close. He put good money on Volkanovski and won it.

His case rests on style. He called Volkanovski calculated, with footwork that makes takedowns hard to land. Evloev did land some, but Volkanovski bounced back to his feet. Dillashaw also noted that Islam Makhachev had trouble holding Volkanovski down, and asked how Evloev would manage it.

Whose view this is

These are the opinions of one former champion who bet on the result. The coverage includes no response from Evloev.

Our View

Dillashaw describes what he saw from the outside, and his reading of Evloev's mind is a guess. Only Evloev can say what he was thinking after the reversal. If he speaks about the fight, or shows a different approach to grappling exchanges in his next bout, that would test Dillashaw's claim.

Source: BJPenn.com