Alexander Volkanovski Stops the Unbeaten Evloev in Two — and Takes Aldo's Featherweight Record at UFC 333

ABU DHABI

Alexander Volkanovski is done sharing the record book.

The 38-year-old featherweight champion stopped the unbeaten Movsar Evloev at 4:54 of the second round in the UFC 333 main event at Etihad Arena on Saturday, defending his title for the second time in his second reign and winning his ninth featherweight title fight — sole possession of the all-time record, one clear of José Aldo’s eight.

Evloev arrived 20-0, the No. 1 contender, a wrestler who had won all ten of his UFC fights and never been finished. He leaves 20-1, with the first loss of his career delivered by the oldest champion in the division — a man six years his senior who was supposed to be the one running out of time.

The fight

The first round was the fight Evloev wanted, in pieces. He shot, he dragged the champion down — and Volkanovski kept standing back up. Every takedown was answered within seconds, the striking exchanges in between stayed close, and ringside scorers split on the round: MMA Junkie and USA Today gave it to Volkanovski, Sherdog’s three scorers and MMA Weekly gave it to Evloev.

The second round turned on the challenger’s own game. Evloev shot and tried to throw Volkanovski; the champion reversed it and landed on top. From there Volkanovski found his rhythm and his range — an overhand right that knocked Evloev off balance, then a left hook, then right hands that visibly hurt him. Volkanovski was cut below his left eye by then. Evloev was cut worse, and fading faster.

The end came in the final seconds. A combination — right hand, left hook, a decisive right, per the ringside reports — turned Evloev away from the fight entirely. He retreated to his back, and Volkanovski poured on ground-and-pound, an unending burst of right hands, until referee Marc Goddard stepped in at 4:54 — six seconds before the round-two bell.

VOLK HAS DONE IT — HE REMAINS THE FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMP

[#UFC333 | LIVE on @paramountplus]

— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) October 24, 2026

“It feels good to get a finish,” Volkanovski said afterward. “I promised the missus a quick one so she wasn’t stressing on the sidelines. I knew there wasn’t long and just land that one big shot that hurt him. I found it, it rattled him a bit. Bomb.”

Of the challenger, he added: “He’s a great fighter and undefeated for a reason. But I said I’m the fight guy for that job.”

Evloev’s verdict was shorter: “He’s a legend.”

The record

Aldo’s eighth featherweight title-fight win came against Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 in July 2016. Volkanovski drew level with him in February, and the two men shared the mark until Saturday night.

Volkanovski’s nine: the title win over Max Holloway in 2019, five defenses in his first reign (Holloway twice more, Brian Ortega, Chan Sung Jung, Yair Rodríguez), then — after Ilia Topuria knocked him out in 2024 and the division wrote him off — a 14-month break, the vacant title reclaimed from Diego Lopes, a second win over Lopes in February, and now Evloev. It was his seventh successful title defense in all. He has not fought a non-title fight since 2019.

There is a symmetry to whose record he took. Volkanovski beat Aldo himself in 2019, months before winning the belt. The student of the division’s first king is now, by the number that matters most in a title lineage, its greatest champion.

The other side

Evloev’s loss closes one of the stranger contender stories in the sport. He won ten straight UFC fights, all by decision, without finishing a single opponent — and the promotion kept him waiting years for a title shot his record said he had earned. As MMA Fighting’s live coverage noted during fight week, it was Volkanovski himself who publicly pushed for Evloev to get the opportunity. The champion asked for the fight, then ended it inside two rounds.

The co-main event

Saturday’s other title fight settled a trilogy: bantamweight champion Petr Yan beat Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision, 48-47 on all three cards, to win their series 2-1. Dvalishvili’s relentless wrestling produced record-breaking takedown volume — 58 attempts, five landed, per ESPN’s stats — and won him the first two rounds on most reads, but Yan swept the championship rounds behind cleaner striking (94 of 206 landed) to retain.

What’s next

Volkanovski told Daniel Cormier in the cage that the lack of damage he took would lead him to consider fighting again. Reporting by talkSPORT out of fight week adds the live option: Volkanovski teased a “winner-take-all” super-fight with lightweight champion Justin Gaethje in the build-up, and UFC CEO Dana White is reported open to Volkanovski challenging for lightweight gold one more time. No bout is made; at 38, the champion holds every card.

By the Numbers