UFC 333: Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan retain their titles
Volkanovski stopped Movsar Evloev in the second round, while Yan beat Merab Dvalishvili by a 48–47 unanimous decision to keep his bantamweight belt.
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Volkanovski stopped Movsar Evloev in the second round, while Yan beat Merab Dvalishvili by a 48–47 unanimous decision to keep his bantamweight belt.
Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan retained their titles at UFC 333, a mixed martial arts event at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 24 October. Volkanovski’s victory also made him the first fighter to win nine UFC featherweight title fights, surpassing José Aldo’s eight.
Yan’s unanimous-decision win over Merab Dvalishvili was his second straight victory in their rivalry, giving him a 2–1 series lead after 75 minutes across three meetings. Dvalishvili won their first fight in March 2023; Yan regained the 135-pound bantamweight championship in their December 2025 rematch.
The record counts Volkanovski’s total victories in UFC featherweight championship fights across his title reigns. It does not mean he has defended the belt nine times in a row: his win over Movsar Evloev was his second successful defence since regaining the vacant title in April.
Volkanovski had lost the belt to Ilia Topuria in February 2024. By beating Evloev, he kept the title in his current reign and moved ahead of Aldo in the division’s overall title-fight win total.
Volkanovski won the featherweight main event by technical knockout—a referee’s stoppage—at 4:54 of the second round. He hurt Evloev with punches, dropped him with a left to the chin, then took top position and finished with ground strikes. Evloev entered unbeaten in 20 professional fights; his record is now 20–1.
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All three judges awarded Yan identical 48–47 scores in the bantamweight co-main event. Dvalishvili’s early wrestling pressure kept Yan defending takedowns—attempts to bring an opponent to the ground—and working to get back to his feet. In the later rounds, Yan stopped more attempts and landed more standing punches, including combinations to the body. He closed the fifth round with another punching combination and a body kick.
MMA Fighting’s live scoring gave Dvalishvili the first two rounds and Yan the final three, each by 10–9. That also produced 48–47 for Yan, but it was the outlet’s assessment, not an official round-by-round scorecard.
Yan said his coach told him the fight was level after four rounds and that winning the fifth would win the bout. Dvalishvili congratulated Yan and said he could do better.
Lone’er Kavanagh stopped Ramazan Temirov at 4:28 of the first round. MMA Fighting’s account described a counter left uppercut followed by punches until the referee intervened.
Aaron Pico, Dominick Reyes, Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev and Abus Magomedov also finished their fights in the first round. In the table, a unanimous decision means all three judges chose the same winner; a split decision means two chose the winner and one chose the opponent. A guillotine choke is a submission hold around the neck.
| Winner | Opponent | Result | Time or judges’ scores |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lone’er Kavanagh | Ramazan Temirov | Stoppage by strikes | Round 1, 4:28 |
| Alexander Volkov | Rizvan Kuniev | Unanimous decision | 29–28, 30–27, 30–27 |
| Aaron Pico | Losene Keita | Technical knockout | Round 1, 1:14 |
| Dominick Reyes | Azamat Murzakanov | Knockout | Round 1, 2:40 |
| Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev | Nikita Krylov | Technical knockout | Round 1, 2:38 |
| Abus Magomedov | Cameron Rowston | Submission by guillotine choke | Round 1, 1:44 |
| Grant Dawson | Nurullo Aliev | Unanimous decision | 29–27, 29–27, 29–27 |
| Colby Thicknesse | Asaf Chopurov | Split decision | 29–28, 29–28, 28–29 |
| Abubakar Vagaev | Jacob Malkoun | Unanimous decision | 29–28, 29–28, 29–28 |
| Daniel Santos | Bolaji Oki | Unanimous decision | 29–28, 29–28, 29–28 |
| Kody Steele | Noah Gugnon | Knockout | Round 1, 3:54 |
| Iasmin Lucindo | Nicolle Caliari | Unanimous decision | 30–27, 30–27, 30–27 |
Volkov’s victory was his third in a row, and he asked for a heavyweight title shot after the bout. Yan said he would face whoever UFC chooses for his next defence.
The appeal tribunal removed an additional suspended spectator ban, but each club must still play its next home Scottish Cup tie without fans and pay the visiting side £100,000.
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Ben Duckett’s career-best 167 and Liam Dawson’s four wickets give England a consolation win in Lahore, with Sri Lanka already through to the final against Pakistan.
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