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#5 UFC Featherweight Division: Movsar Evloev vs. Nate Landwehr

Movsar Evloev is unbeaten in the UFC at 3-0

This Featherweight clash should probably be close one to call. With a combined MMA record of 27-3, both Evloev and Landwehr bring plenty of experience into the UFC, and thus far they’ve been semi-successful in the UFC too.

Evloev is 3-0 in the UFC, with wins over Seung Woo Choi, Enrique Barzola and Mike Grundy. Aggression is the name of the Russian native's game, even if it hasn’t led him to too many finishes. In his three UFC wins, for instance, he’s gone the distance every time.

However, it’s worth noting that Barzola and Grundy are hardly the easiest men to finish. Overall, Evloev is the kind of fighter who never stops pressing forward, whether that’s to wing his heavy punches at his opponent or to take them down, where he’ll attempt to pass guard and land shots or look for a submission.

Landwehr – who interestingly climbed up the ladder on the Russian regional scene – has seen mixed results in the UFC. He was knocked out by Herbert Burns in his UFC debut, but rebounded well to defeat veteran Darren Elkins in his last fight.

However, that result wasn’t quite as impressive as it sounds on paper. Landwehr busted Elkins open with his strikes, but ‘The Damage’ has so much scar tissue on his face that to make him bleed is not as tricky a task as it once was. And he never truly hurt Elkins or had him on the verge of being finished.

Essentially, ‘The Train’ looks like your classic blood-and-thunder regional fighter who’s got enough aggression, toughness and skills to get through to the UFC level, but struggles to get any further due to a lack of raw athleticism.

Evloev, on the other hand, has that raw athleticism in spades. And given that a depleted Elkins was able to take Landwehr down and didn’t succumb to his strikes, and it’s hard not to imagine that the ultra-aggressive Russian will be able to take ‘The Train’ down too.

Will Evloev be able to finish Landwehr? It’d be impressive if he could, but due to Landwehr’s toughness I’m not convinced. However, I’m relatively confident in saying that the Russian should win this fight and pick up his fourth UFC win in a row in the process.

The Pick: Evloev via unanimous decision