The UFC returns to Etihad Arena in the United Arab Emirates for UFC 333. The Paramount+ streaming fight card, which is scheduled for Saturday, October 24, is headlined by two title fights. In the evening’s main event, featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski looks to get the second win of his second run with the belt against No. 1 contender Movsar Evloev. Meanwhile, in the co-main event, bantamweight champ Petr Yan, who is also in his second title reign, faces former titleholder Merab Dvalishvili in a trilogy bout. The UFC recently confirmed five fights for the UFC 333 fight card.
UFC 331 Main Event: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev
Alexander Volkanovski (28-4) is a two-time UFC featherweight champion. He held the title from December 2019 through February 2024, defending the belt five times over that time. His reign began with a unanimous decision win over Max Holloway and ended in a knockout loss to Topuria in February 2024. He regained the vacant belt in April 2025 with his decision win over Lopes.
During his first run with the 145-pound belt, Volkanovski twice fought for the UFC lightweight belt, losing to Islam Makhachev in February and October 2023. Makhachev won the first meeting by decision. The 155-pound champ followed that with a knockout victory over Volkanovski.
Following his loss to Makhachev in October 2023, he dropped the 145-pound to Topuria. More than a year later, Volkanovski bounced back with his win over Lopes at UFC 314.
The featherweight title was left vacant ahead of UFC 314 when Topuria moved up to lightweight, winning that belt at UFC 317 with a knockout victory over Charles Oliveira.
In his first defense of his second title reign, Volkanovski defeated Lopes by unanimous decision at UFC 325 in February.
Movsar Evloev (20-0) made his UFC debut in April 2019 in a featherweight contest against Choi Seung-woo. At the time he stepped into the UFC Octagon for the first time, Evloev was 10-0 and coming off a defense of the M-1 Global bantamweight crown. Evloev, defeated Choi via unanimous decision.
Over the next five years, Evloev would climb the featherweight rankings, facing progressively tougher opponents under the UFC banner. In 2021, Evloev scored a decision over Hakeem Dawodu, which set him up for a January 2022 matchup against Ilia Topuria. However, Evloev was forced from that card after testing positive for COVID-19. In February 2024, Topuria would defeat Alexander Volkanovski to become the UFC featherweight champion.
Evloev next competed in June 2022, defeating Dan Ige. He followed that with wins over Diego Lopes in May 2023 and Arnold Allen in January 2024.
The 32-year-old Evloev is coming off a statement win over former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. Evloev won that three-round contest at UFC 310 in December 2024 via unanimous decision.
Evloev was booked for a July 2025 matchup with Aaron Pico, but that fight fell through due to an Evloev injury. In his most recent booking, Evloev remained perfect, defeating Lerone Murphy via majority decision in the main event of a UFC Fight Night in March of this year.
We will have more on UFC 333 as fight night nears.