Alexander Volkanovski is still the featherweight champion, and he made sure the judges never got involved. At Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, the UFC 333 headliner stopped Movsar Evloev at 4:54 of Round 2. The UFC listed the finish as a TKO on X and announced that Volkanovski remains champion. Six more seconds and Evloev walks back to his stool. Instead, the champ found the finish right before the horn, which is about as perfectly timed as a stoppage gets.
The UFC promoted this fight all week with the line “Questions will be answered,” and the bout delivered on that tagline. Evloev came in as one of the hardest featherweight puzzles in the sport, and the official results list him at 20-1 after Saturday. Volkanovski moves to 29-4 and keeps the belt. The official results don’t break down the finishing sequence, so I won’t pretend to know which shot did it. What the sheet does say is enough: a title defense, inside the distance, in the second round, against a guy almost nobody had solved. The UFC’s post called it “The legend lives on,” and for one night that line reads accurate.
Volkanovski also spent part of his evening as a spectator. Earlier in the night, @DovySimuMMA posted a clip of him reacting to Colby Thicknesse’s win on the undercard, so the champ was locked in on the whole show before he ever made the walk.
View post on X
Yan Retains Over Dvalishvili
The co-main was the opposite kind of fight on paper. Petr Yan beat Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision to keep the bantamweight title, with all three judges scoring it 48-47, per Championship Rounds. A 48-47 sweep across three cards is about as tight as a clean unanimous decision gets in a five-round fight, which means Dvalishvili took rounds and made Yan earn every minute of it. The UFC’s caption on X was “The last word,” which is a pointed choice of words for a title fight between these two.
Yan is now 21-5. Dvalishvili drops to 21-6 in the official results. Neither man got finished, nobody ran, and the margin was one round on every card. You can argue with a split. It’s a lot harder to argue with three identical scores.
The Rest of the Main Card
Lone’er Kavanagh gave the flyweight division something to talk about, stopping Ramazan Temirov at 4:28 of Round 1. Temirov came in with 20 wins and the deeper résumé on paper, and Kavanagh, now 11-2, still got him out of there before the first round ended. That’s the kind of result that makes people go back and rewatch the walkouts.
View post on X
Alexander Volkov took a decision over Rizvan Kuniev at heavyweight to move to 41-11. The more memorable Volkov moment may have come two days earlier at the press conference, where he asked Dana White directly what it takes to get a title shot. According to Championship Rounds, White responded, “How old are you? What are you looking for, how can we help you?” Volkov answered, “I want to become UFC champion. What should I do to get a title shot?” White’s reply: “Talk to Sean and Mick.” @DovySimuMMA joked on X that White “pretends” not to know who Volkov is. A win over Kuniev (now 14-4-1) is a pretty good follow-up to that question, even if it came on the scorecards.
Aaron Pico needed 1:14. That’s how long it took him to stop Losene Keita at featherweight, which ended Keita’s night with his record at 17-3. Pico moves to 15-5, and a first-round finish over a 17-win fighter on a card headlined by the featherweight title is a loud way to introduce yourself to that conversation.
Prelim Results
The undercard was a bloodbath of first-round finishes. Four of the eight prelims ended inside the opening five minutes.
View post on X
- Dominick Reyes stopped Azamat Murzakanov at 2:40 of Round 1 at light heavyweight. Murzakanov entered with an unblemished record and leaves at 16-2. Spinnin Backfist’s post after the fight was just Reyes’ name, which kind of says it all.
- Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev stayed perfect at 11-0 by stopping veteran Nikita Krylov (31-13) at 2:38 of Round 1. Beating a man with 31 wins that fast is a statement at 205.
- Abus Magomedov stopped Cam Rowston at 1:44 of Round 1 at middleweight, improving to 30-7-1.
- Grant Dawson beat Nurullo Aliev on the scorecards at lightweight, handing Aliev his first entry in the loss column on the official sheet (12-1).
- Colby Thicknesse took a decision over Asaf Chopurov at bantamweight to go 10-1, with Volkanovski watching and reacting.
- Abubakar Vagaev outpointed Jacob Malkoun at middleweight to move to 26-4.
- Daniel Santos won a decision over Bolaji Oki at featherweight, now 15-3.
- Kody Steele stopped Noah Gugnon at 3:54 of Round 1 at lightweight, moving to 9-1.
- Iasmin Lucindo opened the night with a decision over Nicolle Caliari at strawweight, improving to 19-6.
Add it up and UFC 333 produced six first-round stoppages, one second-round title finish, and seven fights that went the distance. For a 14-fight card, that’s a healthy split.
What’s Next
None of the sources so far name next opponents for Volkanovski or Yan, and nobody from the promotion has announced a booking. Volkov is the only fighter on the card who publicly asked for a title shot this week, and White’s answer was to send him to Sean and Mick. That meeting is now the most interesting thing on Volkov’s calendar.
Full Results
- Alexander Volkanovski def. Movsar Evloev (TKO, Round 2, 4:54)
- Petr Yan def. Merab Dvalishvili (unanimous decision, 48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
- Lone’er Kavanagh def. Ramazan Temirov (stoppage, Round 1, 4:28)
- Alexander Volkov def. Rizvan Kuniev (decision)
- Aaron Pico def. Losene Keita (stoppage, Round 1, 1:14)
- Dominick Reyes def. Azamat Murzakanov (stoppage, Round 1, 2:40)
- Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev def. Nikita Krylov (stoppage, Round 1, 2:38)
- Abus Magomedov def. Cam Rowston (stoppage, Round 1, 1:44)
- Grant Dawson def. Nurullo Aliev (decision)
- Colby Thicknesse def. Asaf Chopurov (decision)
- Abubakar Vagaev def. Jacob Malkoun (decision)
- Daniel Santos def. Bolaji Oki (decision)
- Kody Steele def. Noah Gugnon (stoppage, Round 1, 3:54)
- Iasmin Lucindo def. Nicolle Caliari (decision)
