UFC 333: Volkanovski vs Evloev and the Yan vs Dvalishvili Trilogy

On October 24 the UFC visits Abu Dhabi for the 24th time and brings the best card of the autumn with it. Etihad Arena on Yas Island hosts two title fights. In the main event 38-year-old champion Alexander Volkanovski defends the featherweight belt against Movsar Evloev, who is 20-0. In the co-main Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili settle things for the third time: their series stands at 1-1.

Here is who these men are, how they got to this night, and what the bookmakers think.

Abu Dhabi and the UFC: a short history

The UFC was born in 1993. The first event took place in Denver and was won by Brazil's Royce Gracie, who was lighter than many of his opponents and choked them out one after another. Back then there were hardly any rules and no weight classes. Today the UFC is the world's leading MMA promotion, with around ten men's and women's divisions.

The UFC and Abu Dhabi go back a long way. In 2020, when the world went into lockdown, the promotion built "Fight Island" on Yas Island and kept running events while the rest of sport stood still. Abu Dhabi has been a regular stop ever since, and UFC 333 is the 11th numbered event held there.

Main event: Volkanovski vs Evloev

Alexander Volkanovski: rugby player, concreter, champion

• Age and record: 38 (born September 29, 1988), 28 wins and 4 losses.
• From: the Illawarra coast of New South Wales, Australia. Macedonian father, Greek mother.
• Before MMA: played rugby league for the Warilla Gorillas, weighing 97 kg at the time. In 2010 he won the Mick Cronin Medal as his league's best player, then quit rugby at 23 to fight. He also worked as a concreter.
• Road to the belt: took the title from Max Holloway in December 2019 and became one of the most dominant champions the division has seen. Twice tried to take Islam Makhachev's lightweight belt and lost both times.
• Fall and comeback: in February 2024 Ilia Topuria knocked him out in the second round. It looked like the end of an era. But in April 2025 Volkanovski beat Diego Lopes to win the belt back, and on February 1, 2026 he beat Lopes again to defend it.
• Records: the oldest featherweight champion and the oldest to defend that belt. His eight featherweight title-fight wins tie him with the legendary José Aldo.

His nickname is "The Great", and in Australian sport nobody says it ironically.

Movsar Evloev: 20-0 and not a single slip

• Age and record: 32 (born February 11, 1994), 20 wins, 0 losses.
• From: Ingushetia, Russia.
• Base: Master of Sport in Greco-Roman wrestling. His cousin Musa Evloev won Olympic Greco-Roman gold in Tokyo.
• Education: degrees in computer programming and law. A rare title challenger who can land a takedown and write code.
• Before the UFC: M-1 Global bantamweight champion, unified the title and defended it twice.
• In the UFC: beat Dan Ige, Diego Lopes, Arnold Allen, former champion Aljamain Sterling, and in March 2026 edged Lerone Murphy by majority decision.

Evloev's defining trait is that he takes almost no risks: 13 of his 20 wins came by decision. He wins rounds with wrestling and control, and opponents rarely find an answer in time.

How the fight could go

It is the classic striker versus wrestler. Volkanovski thrives on volume, timing and in-fight adjustments, and his takedown defence is good too, or he would not have lasted this long at the top. Evloev needs to force the clinch and takedowns early and not let the champion build momentum.

The big question is age. At 38 most fighters retire rather than defend belts. Evloev is six years younger and in his prime. On the other hand, the champion has plenty of five-round experience, while this will be Evloev's first UFC title fight.

What the bookmakers think. On Coins.Game, as of October 7, both men are priced at exactly 1.87. It is rare for the market to see no favourite at all in a main event.

Co-main event: Yan vs Dvalishvili, part three

Petr Yan: from beyond the Arctic Circle to the top

• Age and record: 33 (born February 11, 1993), 20 wins and 5 losses.
• From: Dudinka, on the Taymyr Peninsula, north of the Arctic Circle.
• Base: Master of Sport in boxing; he boxed for eight years at 64 kg.
• Nickname: No Mercy.
• Rollercoaster: won the belt in 2020 by beating José Aldo. In 2021 lost it by disqualification for an illegal knee on Aljamain Sterling, won the interim title against Cory Sandhagen, then lost three in a row. Many wrote him off, but Yan won four straight and took the belt from Dvalishvili in December 2025.

A curious coincidence: Yan and Evloev share a birthday, February 11, a year apart.

Merab Dvalishvili: "The Machine"

• Age and record: 35 (born January 10, 1991), 21 wins and 5 losses.
• From: Vani, Georgia. Moved to the US at 21 and worked in construction before becoming a full-time fighter.
• Title run: took the belt from Sean O'Malley at the Sphere in Las Vegas in September 2024, then defended it three times in 2025: against Umar Nurmagomedov, O'Malley again, and Cory Sandhagen.
• UFC record: 119 successful takedowns, the most in the promotion's history.
• Style: relentless pace. Dvalishvili does not tire and pressures for all five rounds, hence the nickname.

Series tied 1-1

Dvalishvili won the first fight in March 2023 by unanimous decision, simply not letting Yan work as he took him down again and again. In the rematch in December 2025 Yan found the answer, ended Dvalishvili's 14-fight win streak and also won a unanimous decision. The third fight will decide whose game plan is stronger when both know each other inside out.

What the bookmakers think. This one has a favourite: Yan is 1.52, Dvalishvili 2.40. The market expects the champion to repeat December's recipe.

Who else to watch

• Alexander Volkov vs Rizvan Kuniev, heavyweight, on the main card.
• Ramazan Temirov vs Lone'er Kavanagh, flyweight.
• Aaron Pico vs Losene Keita, featherweight. Keita replaces the injured Arnold Allen.
• Azamat Murzakanov vs Dominick Reyes and Nikita Krylov vs Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev, light heavyweight, on the prelims.

Betting UFC 333 smartly

Both title fights are five rounds, and in both one fighter is used to winning on the cards. So beyond the moneyline, look at the method-of-victory market: Evloev and Dvalishvili win by decision more often than by finish.

There is also a practical point. Coins.Game runs a weekly sports bonus of up to $10,000 with no wagering, but it counts bets placed from Sunday to Friday. The event is on a Saturday, so bets placed on fight day will not count toward that week's bonus. If you want them to count, place them by Friday, October 23.

Both fights are already in the UFC 333 market on Coins.Game. The odds quoted here are as of October 7 and will almost certainly move before fight night.

For how we broke down another big match, and what wagering means, see Liverpool vs Man City: Match File and "What Is Wagering" and 9 other bonus questions.