Volkanovski Stops Evloev in Second Round to Retain Title at UFC 333

Alexander Volkanovski retained his UFC featherweight title on Saturday with a second-round technical knockout of Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi. The finish came at 4:54 of round two, with six seconds left in the round, after a combination sent Evloev back against the cage and Volkanovski followed him to the canvas with a series of unanswered punches. Referee Marc Goddard stopped the fight.

Evloev entered the main event at Etihad Arena with a record of 20-0. The 32-year-old Russian leaves with the first loss of his professional career. Volkanovski, 38, improved to 29-4 and recorded his ninth UFC featherweight title win, the most in the history of the division, according to DraftKings Network reporting of the official totals.

How the finish came

Evloev pressed with his grappling in the first round, the approach that carried him through 20 straight wins. Volkanovski defended the takedowns and took little damage in the round. In the second round his striking took over. He sent Evloev to the canvas briefly with a glancing blow to the temple, then hurt him again late in the round with a hard right hand near the cage. The follow-up punches on the ground brought the stoppage.

It was Volkanovski first finish since his technical knockout of Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 in July 2023. After the fight he said he had promised his wife a quick finish. Their wedding anniversary fell on Wednesday, and he said he promised her a quick one so she would not be stressing on the sideline.

Yan keeps the bantamweight title

In the co-main event, Petr Yan retained the bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Merab Dvalishvili. All three judges scored the fight 48-47 for Yan, according to the official UFC scorecards. It was the third meeting between the two men. Dvalishvili won the first fight by unanimous decision in 2023. Yan won the second, also by unanimous decision, in December 2025, and now leads the series two wins to one.

Yan took the belt from Dvalishvili in that December 2025 fight. On Saturday he handled a steady stream of takedown attempts and marked up Dvalishvili face with short punches across five rounds fought at a fast pace from the first bell.

Rest of the main card

Aaron Pico stopped Losene Keita by technical knockout at 1:14 of round one. Alexander Volkov beat Rizvan Kuniev by unanimous decision, with scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27. Lone'er Kavanagh stopped Ramazan Temirov by technical knockout at 4:28 of round one. On the prelims, Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev stopped Nikita Krylov with a knee at 2:38 of round one, and Abus Magomedov submitted Cam Rowston with a guillotine choke at 1:44 of round one.

For Volkanovski, the win answers the age question that followed him into the week. At 38, in his second run as champion, he stopped an unbeaten challenger in under two rounds and did it with the striking volume and forward pressure that built his first title run.