The numbered-card train is heading back to Abu Dhabi, with UFC 333 set to go down at the Etihad Arena on October 24. In the main event, featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will look to put his 145-pound title on the line against Movsar Evloev.
Meanwhile, bantamweight champion Petr Yan, who is also enjoying his second reign, will face former champion Merab Dvalishvili in a trilogy fight in the co-main event.
Volkanovski will be making the second defense of his second featherweight reign after reclaiming the vacant title with a win over Diego Lopes at UFC 314 last April. The Aussie then returned at UFC 325 in Sydney and put on an even more impressive performance against the Brazilian.
While many fans had been calling for Evloev to get the next shot at the champion, they will finally get to see the vaunted matchup. For the unversed, Evloev kept his undefeated record intact at UFC London in March when he defeated Lerone Murphy, improving to 20-0 with 10 straight wins inside the Octagon.
Now, with the undefeated Russian coming for his crown, Volkanovski has already started thinking about what comes next. “The Great” will turn 38 on September 29, just weeks before his title defense in Abu Dhabi. At an age when many fighters in the lighter divisions would already be thinking about calling it a career, Volkanovski has no plans of slowing down just yet.
The Aussie does admit that Evloev could potentially deliver the final blow of his career, but he certainly isn’t expecting to announce his retirement in Abu Dhabi.
In a recent interview with 10 News, the featherweight champion said, “If things go terribly wrong, alright, we’re done. If things go very well, like the last one, with no damage, we’ll keep it rolling. I’m taking each fight as it goes. I’m trying to be real with it, but I don’t have plans on retiring right now. I’m pretty sure we are gonna keep going.”
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Volkanovski’s recent resurgence has been nothing short of inspiring. After losing twice to Islam Makhachev at lightweight, including a brutal knockout at UFC 294, the Aussie eventually lost his 145-pound crown to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298. At the time, many saw the defeat as the beginning of the end for perhaps the greatest featherweight of all time.
Things got even tougher from there. Volkanovski has been open about his struggles with his mental health, while his family had also encouraged him to consider walking away from the sport. With the birth of his fourth child adding another major chapter to his life, it seemed like the Aussie could finally be ready to call it quits.
Instead, he stepped away from the Octagon for an extended period, returned at UFC 314 in Miami and shocked everyone by reclaiming the featherweight title. Now, after looking better than ever in his last two outings and sitting at No. 2 in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, Volkanovski has plenty left to accomplish.
If he can get past Evloev at UFC 333 without taking too much damage, fans may get to see “The Great” continue his second run at the top for quite some time.
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Kshitiz Kumar Singh is a UFC Writer at NY Fights with over three years of experience in sports journalism and content creation. Known for his sharp storytelling and passion for combat sports, he has written in-depth features on stars like Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, and Ilia Topuria. Before joining NY Fights, Kshitiz worked as a UFC Editor at EssentiallySports while currently serving as a WWE Editor at FirstSportz. His admiration for legends like Georges St-Pierre continues to inspire his detailed and engaging MMA coverage. Whether he’s covering the Octagon or the squared circle, Kshitiz is committed to delivering accurate, high-quality content. Outside the world of sports, he’s a dedicated cinephile, often found practicing monologues from his favorite Al Pacino films, combining his love for cinema with storytelling.
