Every pay-per-view sells you the top of the poster, and UFC 333 has a gorgeous one. Alexander Volkanovski (28-4) defends the featherweight title against unbeaten Movsar Evloev (20-0) at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, Oct. 24, with Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili running it back for a third time in the co-main. Most fans will plan their day around the 2 p.m. ET main card. I’m telling you to have the coffee brewing by 10.
The Abu Dhabi slot flips the usual schedule. Early prelims start at 10 a.m. ET on Paramount+ and UFC Fight Pass, the prelims follow at noon, and the five-fight main card closes things out at 2, according to Yahoo Sports’ card rundown. The whole event streams on Paramount+ at no extra cost to subscribers. So there’s no paywall between you and the best part of this card. Only a snooze button.
The dogs have nothing to protect
Pull up the odds and count the underdogs below the main card. Colby Thicknesse sits at +400 against Asaf Chopurov (-550) at bantamweight. Nicolle Caliari is +275 against Iasmin Lucindo (-350) at women’s strawweight. Jacob Malkoun is +160 against Abubakar Vagaev at middleweight, and Noah Gugnon is +130 against Kody Steele at lightweight. Bolaji Oki is a +110 dog against Daniel Santos. Then the noon block: Nikita Krylov at +350 against Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev (-450), Dominick Reyes at +180 against Azamat Murzakanov, Nurullo Aliev at +105 against Grant Dawson, and Cam Rowston at +100 against Abus Magomedov.
That’s nine fighters across two prelim blocks who the market expects to lose. Think about what that does to a person’s game plan. A fighter priced at +400 gets very little out of a respectable decision loss to a -550 favorite. The one result that changes his career is the one where somebody’s crumpled against the fence, so he goes hunting for it. Big favorites, meanwhile, often fight like they’re guarding something, which opens the door for the dog to make it ugly and exciting. That push and pull is exactly what I want on my screen at 10:15 on a Saturday morning.
Reyes is the most interesting version of this. He’s 16-5, a two-time UFC title challenger, and the books still have him as a clear underdog to Murzakanov (16-1). A former contender getting that kind of number has every reason to throw caution out of the cage, and Murzakanov, with one loss on his record, has every reason to make him pay for it. If I had to circle one prelim for fireworks, that’s it.
Five rounds, one belt, a lot of chess
Now look at the main event. Volkanovski and Evloev are a dead pick’em at -110 apiece. Volkanovski, 38, reclaimed the vacant belt with a win over Diego Lopes in April 2025, beat Lopes again in February, and is chasing his seventh total title defense, per UFC.com. Evloev hasn’t lost in 20 pro fights and beat the previously unbeaten Lerone Murphy in March to get here.
Two elite technicians, a belt, an unbeaten record and 25 minutes to spend. Everything about that setup rewards patience. Banking rounds is the smart play. Feinting for two minutes to draw out one counter is the smart play. Smart is great for legacies, and it’s how you end up checking your phone in the third round of a championship fight.
The best counterargument lives in the co-main. Dvalishvili dominated the first fight with Yan in 2023, Yan took the belt back with a shocking win at UFC 323 in December, and now they settle it with Yan at -175 and Dvalishvili at +145. That’s real history and real stakes. Fine. But two men meeting for a third time know each other’s habits down to the shoulder twitch, and I’d bet on a familiarity like that producing a tactical rubber match over a firefight. Stakes make fighters careful. Nobody on the early prelims is careful at +400.
Even the main card’s spice is at the bottom
To be fair to the 2 p.m. block, the main card does have juice, and it’s sitting right where my argument says it should be. The opener pairs No. 11 Aaron Pico (14-5) with Losene Keita (17-2), who UFC.com noted is coming off a highlight-reel finish at UFC Paris last month. Then No. 6 Lone’er Kavanagh (10-2), trying to bounce back from a submission loss to Brandon Royval, meets No. 10 Ramazan Temirov (20-3), who flattened Steve Erceg in the first round in July. Those two fights play like prelims that got promoted, close lines and all (Pico at -105, Kavanagh at -105).
No. 2 heavyweight Alexander Volkov (40-11) against No. 7 Rizvan Kuniev (14-3-1) has title-shot implications, and heavyweights can always end it with one shot. Still, the further up the card you go, the more there is to lose, and the more the fights tend to look like it.
So watch the belts at 2 p.m. Of course you will. Just don’t be the person who tunes in late and has to hear about what Thicknesse, Caliari or Reyes did from the group chat. Early prelims go off at 10 a.m. ET Saturday, and the +400 dog is on that block.
