Evloev says hijab request was a bid to avoid Nina-Marie Daniele interview

Movsar Evloev's hijab request was not a matter of principle, he says. It was an exit. Speaking to Russian MMA content creator Adam Zubayraev, Evloev said he wanted to decline an interview with Nina-Marie Daniele and chose a condition he expected her to turn down.

"I just set a condition so she, I thought, would refuse," he said. Daniele agreed, so he had to go through with the conversation, which took place two days before the comments and covered his life and career. Her outfit, a departure from the casual clothes she usually wears for interviews, became one of the most-discussed parts of it.

Evloev also questioned what the gesture amounted to. Wearing a hijab for an hour, he suggested, does not make someone a saint, and he pointed to his own job: he would soon be competing in shorts.

Daniele, known as Nina Drama, framed it differently. She wrote that she acted out of respect and to make Evloev comfortable, that her interviews are not mandatory and that no one forced her to do anything. She thanked Evloev and his team.

The remarks came in the final days before Evloev's featherweight title shot against Alexander Volkanovski, and they offered a look at a fighter who was already putting the fight ahead of media duties. Evloev, a 32-year-old Russian who fights out of American Top Team, went in with a perfect record and 13 of his 20 wins by decision.

The fight itself went the other way. Volkanovski stopped him in round two at UFC 333 on Oct 26, 2026, handing Evloev his first loss. According to the syndicated EssentiallySports report, it was the first time a fighter had asked Daniele to change her outfit.