Ivan Matyushenko is defending home turf as the left arm heavyweight titleholder. Can Devon Larratt’s move down from super heavyweight be enough to dethrone him?
The match between Devon Larratt and Ivan Matyushenko might be the biggest left arm heavyweight match of all time — a match Devon has been chasing for more than a decade.
Would Devon’s low arm toproll be enough to deal with Ivan’s deep hook and its incredible side-pressure?
Devon Larratt EVW 26 preview
Staple info:
- Record: 3-1 EVW, 1-0 KOTT
- Height: 6’5″ Age: 51 Weight: 120 kg (265 lbs)
- Last left arm fight: Loss to Vitaly Laletin, 4-0
- Pulling style: Open-arm toproll
- Forearm-to-fingertip length: 54 cm~ | Hand length: 22 cm
- Risk management: Calculated, but coming off a title-less stretch on the left side
Supplemental info:
- Former holder of the right and left arm legacy hammer
- Multi-division world champion across weight classes
- Decades of high-level supermatch experience
- Elite hand and wrist-fighting instincts pre-strap
- Rarely loses the hand-fight
- Feared open arm toproll
- Generates leverage by dropping his elbow and driving through the opponent’s wrist rather than the shoulder
- Strong defensive hook to fall back on if the toproll stalls
- ^ Uses it to buy time and reset grip rather than as a first option
- Coming off rough finish on the left arm (lost to Laletin 4-0)
- Moving down from super heavyweight to compete here, size and strength edge over Matyushenko is real but not enormous
Ivan Matyushenko EVW 26 preview
Staple info:
- Record: 2-1 EVW, 0-1 KOTT
- Height: 6’3″ Age: 41 Weight: 115 kg~ (251 lbs)
- Last left arm fight: Loss to Alizhan Muratov, 4-0
- Pulling style: Deep hook with side-pressure
- Forearm-to-fingertip length: Unknown | Hand length: 22 cm
- Risk management: Aggressive — commits hard and early to the hook
Supplemental info:
- Left arm heavyweight world title
- Has better hooking ability than almost anyone in the division
- ^ Opponents rarely turn his cup back outside once he’s locked it
- Heavy side-pressure that compounds once the hook is set
- Untested against a puller with Devon’s combination of size, reach and top-side pedigree
- Coming off a 4-0 loss to Muratov
Devon Larratt vs. Ivan Matyushenko match breakdown: Toproll vs. deep hook
The main event for EVW 26 pits two very different stylists against each other in a matchup that’s been years in the making.
Larratt’s game on the left arm is built around taking the cupping ability of his opponents, then using a low, patient toproll to pull the fight into his lane. Where a lot of top-rollers try to power through their opponents, Larratt’s version is more about angle and timing e drops his shoulder and works on the opponent’s wrist into a compromised position before committing to the finish. It’s a style that rewards patience, and at 51 years old with a lifetime of high-level reps behind him, patience is arguably his single biggest weapon.
The concern for Larratt is what happens if he can’t control Ivan from turning him palm up. His hook is capable, but it’s clearly a backup rather than a first plan and against a puller like Matyushenko who lives to fight from the hook, falling back into that exchange plays into the champion’s hands rather than out of them.
Matyushenko, by contrast, is a hook specialist in the truest sense. His signature is an extremely deep cup combined with relentless side-pressure. He tries to bury his opponent’s pronation with his insane ability to supinate. If Larratt can’t separate Ivan’s shoulder from his wrist and gets caught in a deep hook before he can establish his angle, this could be a short night for the challenger.
Devon Larratt vs. Ivan Matyushenko point of interest: The pre-strap hand-fight
If there’s a single exchange that will decide this match, it’s the fight before the referee’s “ready, go.”
Larratt is widely regarded as one of the best hand-fighters of his generation; a skill that matters enormously in a division where the strap position essentially pre-determines who gets to play their A-game. If Larratt can consistently win position with his fingers and force a lower, less favorable strap for Matyushenko, he tilts the match toward his toproll before the pull has even really started.
Matyushenko side-pressure style means he doesn’t need a dominant strap to eventually make the match uncomfortable for his opponent. He also has a documented plan B: Matyushenko has discussed working a flop press with Kamil Jablonski — the same technique Jablonski used to beat Larratt 6-0 at Arm Wars.
Ivan also pointed to Vitaly Laletin’s flop-press finish of Artyom Morozov at EVW 16 as proof the technique can work even for pullers with no real history using it, framing it less as a rehearsed plan and more as an instinctive fallback if his wrist gets cracked.
Devon Larratt vs. Ivan Matyushenko possible outcomes
Both men come into this match having lost their most recent left arm outing 4-0, which makes projecting form more difficult than usual. Matyushenko’s loss to Muratov and Larratt’s loss to Laletin both point to the same conclusion: neither man is currently the clear best puller in the world on this arm, which is exactly what makes this such an appealing style clash.
Larratt’s biggest structural advantage here is his reach and total frame coming down from a heavier weight class — but that alone hasn’t been enough against pullers with elite hook technique in the past. What tips this for me is the hand-fight. Larratt’s ability to consistently win position before the pull starts is still, even at 51, one of the most underrated skills in the sport, and it directly attacks the one thing Matyushenko’s whole game depends on: getting that hook locked in deep before Larratt can find his angle.
If Larratt wins the strap battle, I like his toproll to grind out the win. If Matyushenko gets his customary deep position early, this could go the other way fast — and his willingness to have a flop press in his back pocket shows he’s not planning to leave his fate purely to the hook.
Devon Larratt vs. Ivan Matyushenko start time, how to watch
As the main event, Larratt and Matyushenko would fight on 12 2026, September 12:00 p.m. ET. The match streams on EVW Sports.
