The UFC has confirmed a championship doubleheader for UFC 333 on 24 October at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, and it is the strongest card announced for the back half of 2026.
Alexander Volkanovski (28-4) defends the featherweight title against Movsar Evloev (20-0), and Petr Yan (20-5) puts the bantamweight belt on the line against Merab Dvalishvili (21-5) in the third fight of a rivalry that has now produced a title change in both directions.
Volkanovski v Evloev: the last undefeated problem
Evloev earned this with a decision over Lerone Murphy at UFC London in March. He arrives at 20-0 — the sort of record that eventually stops being a curiosity and starts being a warning.
The stylistic question is the obvious one and it is not a simple one. Volkanovski has spent his championship life solving pressure grapplers by out-working them in space and out-lasting them late. Evloev is the version of that problem who has never been solved by anybody.
Yan v Dvalishvili 3: the belt keeps changing hands
Yan took the title from Dvalishvili by unanimous decision at UFC 323 on 6 December 2025, ending a fourteen-fight winning streak in the process. That result is what makes the trilogy fight compelling rather than obligatory — both men have now beaten the other in a fight that mattered.
Dvalishvili’s case is volume and an engine that has broken better strikers than Yan. Yan’s case is that he has already proven he can defuse it once.
