UFC 333: Dvalishvili out to take his belt back from Petr Yan

UFC 333 takes place on Saturday 24 October at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, with two championship fights. In the co-main event, Merab Dvalishvili tries to win back the bantamweight title from Petr Yan, who beat him in December 2025. In the main event, Alexander Volkanovski defends the featherweight belt against Movsar Evloev, unbeaten in 20 professional fights. The main card starts at 8 pm Paris time (2 pm ET).

A bantamweight trilogy

Yan and Dvalishvili know each other inside out. The Georgian won their first fight by unanimous decision in 2023. As champion, he stacked up defences in 2025 until the December rematch, which he lost to the Russian, also by unanimous decision. After around ten months out, Dvalishvili told Sherdog he feels rested and better than before, and believes he is clearly the better fighter, though he still has to prove it in the cage. He sees the rematch as closer than the first fight, which he dominated.

The scale is worth watching. According to Bloody Elbow, Dvalishvili still had about 5 kg to cut early in the week, which he admits will be tough. He has never missed weight in 17 UFC fights.

Volkanovski against unbeaten Evloev

At 38, Volkanovski won the featherweight belt back and kept it against Diego Lopes, beating the Brazilian twice in a row. On Saturday he puts it on the line for the second time since returning to the top. Across the cage, Evloev, 32, has never lost: 20 wins, 10 of them in the UFC, the latest on points against Lerone Murphy in London in March. It is his first UFC title fight. Critics point to how often the Russian wins on the cards, and he owns that style. Volkanovski says he will set the pace on the feet.

The rest of the main card features Lone'er Kavanagh vs Ramazan Temirov at flyweight, Alexander Volkov vs Rizvan Kuniev at heavyweight and Aaron Pico vs Losene Keita at featherweight.

A Frenchman on the opener

France's Noah Gugnon is on the card, according to the UFC: he faces Kody Steele at lightweight on the early prelims, from 4 pm Paris time on UFC Fight Pass, the promotion's subscription platform. The prelims follow at 6 pm on the same platform.

The night opens a busy month for French MMA: Ciryl Gane defends his heavyweight title against Josh Hokit on 14 November at UFC 334, at Madison Square Garden in New York.