Australian champion seeks to surpass Aldo on Sunday; Yan-Dvalishvili rubber match also on card

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (38, Australia) will bid for the record for most featherweight title fight victories when he faces undefeated contender Movsar Evloev (32, Russia), who holds a perfect 20-0 professional record.

Volkanovski makes his second featherweight title defense in the main event of UFC 333: Volkanovski vs. Evloev at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Sunday (Korean Standard Time).

Carrying a career record of 28 wins and four losses, Volkanovski has gone 8-0 in UFC featherweight title fights. He successfully defended the belt five times during his first reign and added one more defense after reclaiming the championship. A victory Sunday would give him nine title-fight wins at featherweight, surpassing Jose Aldo's all-time record.

Evloev has won every fight of his professional career. He was a bantamweight champion in the Russian MMA organization M-1 and went on a 10-fight winning streak in the UFC after his debut against Choi Seung-woo in 2019. A Greco-Roman wrestling specialist, he averages 4.8 successful takedowns per 15 minutes.

Volkanovski shrugged off concerns about age-related decline. "Every time I walk into the octagon, people wonder if I've lost a step," he said. "When the fight is over, the headline will be, 'How is he performing like this at 38?'"

He added that his stylistic advantages give him an edge. "There's a reason people say I match up well against wrestlers," he said. "Evloev will create problems, but I'm more than capable of solving them."

Evloev pushed back. "Volkanovski is still dangerous — you could even say he's in his prime," he said. "But he has never faced someone who pressures him the way I do. We'll find out whose conditioning is better when we get in there."

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (top left) and challenger Movsar Evloev (top right) clash in the UFC 333 main event. The co-main event features bantamweight champion Petr Yan (bottom left) against Merab Dvalishvili (bottom right) in a title rematch. [UFC]
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (top left) and challenger Movsar Evloev (top right) clash in the UFC 333 main event. The co-main event features bantamweight champion Petr Yan (bottom left) against Merab Dvalishvili (bottom right) in a title rematch. [UFC]

The co-main event brings a third meeting between bantamweight champion Petr Yan (33, Russia) and former champion Merab Dvalishvili (35, Georgia).

The two fighters split their first two bouts. Dvalishvili won a unanimous decision in their first encounter in 2023, but Yan claimed the championship belt with a decision victory at UFC 323 in December last year.

Dvalishvili, who holds a career record of 21 wins and five losses, returns after roughly 10 months away. "There won't be a repeat of last time, when I was back in two months," he said. "I've rested properly and found my calm. This time I won't be fixated on takedowns — I'll show a different side of myself."

Yan, at 20-5, is determined to replicate his second-fight performance. In that bout he stuffed 27 of Dvalishvili's 29 takedown attempts, dominating the wrestling exchanges.

"Two fights have given me plenty of information on my opponent," Yan said. "I'll put everything into winning just as decisively as last time."

The UFC 333 undercard begins at 1 a.m. Sunday, with the main card starting at 3 a.m., both broadcast exclusively on Tving.


yjc@heraldcorp.com