“The legend lives on,” the UFC wrote on X minutes after Alexander Volkanovski stopped Movsar Evloev by TKO in the second round at UFC 333 on Saturday, keeping the featherweight title around his waist. Championship Rounds put it in all caps a few seconds earlier: “ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI JUST FINISHED MOVSAR EVLOEV IN THE SECOND ROUND.”
The man on the receiving end said it best. “He’s like good wine. Older, stronger, better,” Evloev said afterward, in a clip UFC on Paramount+ shared on X, before calling Volkanovski a legend. That’s a gracious line from a fighter who walked in as the No. 2 featherweight with a single blemish nowhere on his UFC résumé, and who leaves at 20-1. Evloev is a Master of Sports in Greco-Roman wrestling and a former M-1 Global bantamweight champion, and he’d built his UFC run on winning decisions against Hakeem Dawodu, Dan Ige and Nik Lentz. Nobody had found a way to finish him. Volkanovski did it inside two rounds.
By Sunday the praise had spread, with MMA Sucka reporting that UFC fighters were hailing him as “The FW GOAT” and boxingnews.com declaring the debate over. The résumé backs them up. Volkanovski, now 29-4 and Knockout Daily’s No. 1 featherweight, holds the most featherweight title victories in UFC history, and he became the oldest fighter to defend that belt at 38. Fight Matrix still lists him second all-time at 145 pounds, though Saturday will make that ranking harder to defend.
View post on X
It’s a long way from the Warilla Gorillas. Volkanovski was a semi-pro rugby league front rower weighing around 97 kg when he started training MMA at 22 to stay in shape during the off-season, coach Joe Lopez has said. He worked his way down through middleweight, welterweight and lightweight before settling at featherweight.
View post on X
Now he’s thinking about the exit. Volkanovski said he’d like to move up and fight Justin Gaethje, and he framed it as a final bout, according to Championship Rounds. “That’s something I’d retire for. If they want to give me that opportunity, win or lose I’d retire,” he said, adding that he believed it could happen without holding up either division.
The UFC hasn’t responded publicly. For now the last image from Saturday night is Volkanovski posing for a photo with Petr Yan, both men fresh off wins on the same card.
View post on X
