Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev headlines UFC 333

Finally, Movsar Evloev has gotten his long-awaited shot at the UFC featherweight title.

The undefeated Russian fighter is set to challenge champion Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 333 – which is set to go down on Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi. MMA Junkie confirmed the news with multiple sources following a report from Вестник ММА, and the UFC made it official during Saturday's UFC 330 broadcast.

This bout marks the second title defense of Volkanovski's (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) second reign as UFC featherweight champion. Volkanovski initially held the belt from 2019 to 2023, becoming one of the greatest featherweights of all time. He lost the belt by KO to Ilia Topuria in 2024, and then recovered it when Topuria moved up to lightweight in a vacant title fight against Diego Lopes in April 2025. Volkanovski went on to defend the belt this past February in a rematch against Lopes.

Evloev (20-0 MMA, 10-0 UFC) has been pursuing the UFC title for well over seven years. Despite being considered by many the No. 1 contender in the featherweight division for a couple of years now, Evloev has yet to get a crack at the title. He's gone 20-0 in his professional MMA career, with half of those wins being under the UFC banner. In his last outing back in March, Evloev defeated Lerone Murphy in a majrity decision.

• Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev – for featherweight title
• Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili – for bantamweight title

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev headlines UFC 333