Rizvan Kuniev went the full 15 minutes with Alexander Volkov at UFC 333 and still ended his Saturday night in an Abu Dhabi hospital.
UFC officials confirmed to MMA Mania that Kuniev (15-4-1) was taken to a local hospital for precautionary X-rays on his leg after losing a unanimous decision to Volkov on Oct. 24 at Etihad Arena. As of Monday, nobody had made the scan results public, and neither Kuniev nor his team had said anything about the extent of the damage.
The strange part is everything around him on the card. Seven fighters were finished in Abu Dhabi, six of them by knockout, and the one guy UFC sent for more testing was the heavyweight who made it to the scorecards. Bloody Elbow and MMA Mania both pointed out the oddity.
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How it happened
Volkov did it the slow way. He used his height and reach to work from distance and kept going to Kuniev’s lower half for three rounds, which stopped the Dagestani from ever putting together consistent offense. ESPN’s stats credited Volkov with 14 leg kicks, according to Essentially Sports, and Kuniev’s legs had gone bright red before the fight was over. Kuniev stayed on his feet to the end. The accumulated damage was enough for officials to want pictures anyway.
The loss snapped a two-fight winning streak built on wins over Tyrell Fortune and Jailton Almeida, and it drops the 34-year-old to 2-2 in the Octagon. His only other UFC loss was his promotional debut, a split decision against Curtis Blaydes at UFC Baku in June 2025. He skipped the hospital after that one, so this is a first for him. Bloody Elbow has him at No. 5 in the division going in, and it noted that Kuniev will need another bounce-back run to get his name near title talk again.
This is also the second time this month a fighter went to the hospital after a fight that went to the cards. At UFC Vegas 122 on Oct. 10, Loopy Godinez was the only fighter sent for precautionary scans (head and face) after beating Ketlen Souza by unanimous decision. Godinez at least got the win.
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On the other side, Volkov is now chasing a title shot the UFC already handed to someone else. The promotion booked Josh Hokit against Ciryl Gane for UFC 335 in November, and Volkov’s win over his fellow Russian was his case for facing the winner in 2027. Dana White gave a coy answer when asked about Volkov’s title prospects after the event, Bloody Elbow reported. Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan both kept their belts at the top of the card, so Volkov wasn’t exactly the lead story in the building either.
My take: sending a guy for X-rays after 14 leg kicks is the UFC being careful, and nobody should read it as anything more until a result actually surfaces. Volkov, meanwhile, turned a ranked heavyweight’s legs red and sent him for scans without a single knockdown, which is a better pitch than anything he could say at a press conference. Hokit and Gane still fight in November, and Volkov gets to watch.
