But none of those things are of concern to Evloev at this moment —not his opponent’s record, his place in the rankings, or the belief that the victor will secure a championship opportunity.
“It doesn’t really affect me and doesn’t make any kind of difference for me,” he said. “What’s most important in any fight, whether you’re fighting an undefeated person or not, the most important thing is the work you have done to prepare, the shape that you’re coming into the fight in, everything you have done for yourself to be sure of yourself in the fight.
“Everything else — any of the other noise, any of the other accolades someone has is the work they had to do. What you can control and what’s important is what you’ve done for the fight to be the victor.
“No matter what I do, if I go out there and smoke him —have the craziest finish you can imagine — ultimately, who decides what happens next is the UFC; they say who is going to be the next (challenger) for the current champion, so there is nothing I can do.”
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Instead, the focused contender has — as he said — committed all his energy to preparing to face Murphy with designs on delivering the kind of performances that make it crystal clear that he is a cut above the competition.
“He’s great in striking, he’s got really heavy kicks, and maybe another thing he has is that he gets up really well after a takedown; not a lot of people have been able to hold him down,” Evloev said. “I think this is something I’m going to have to concentrate on is that when he gets taken down, he doesn’t get up as easily, so we’ll have to work on that.
“People in my position, when you ask a question like that, they have nothing else to say but ‘I have to finish him and make it an exciting finish,’ but I don’t think that’s what this is at all,” continued Evloev. “I think the most important thing is to show levels.
