UFC 333 takes place tonight, Saturday 24 October 2026, at Etihad Arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi — and it is one of the strongest cards of the year. Two championship belts are on the line in a rare double title header: featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski defends against the undefeated Movsar Evloev, and bantamweight champion Petr Yan meets Merab Dvalishvili for a third time with his title at stake.
Because the event is staged in the UAE, start times are much earlier than usual for American viewers — the main card begins at 2:00 PM ET — while fans in India can watch the main card from 11:30 PM IST on Saturday night. Here is everything you need to know before the first fight.
UFC 333: Volkanovski vs Evloev for the Featherweight Title
The UFC 333 main event pits one of the greatest featherweights in history against the division's most relentless unbeaten contender. Alexander Volkanovski, 37, carries a 28-4 professional record and has rebuilt his reign with back-to-back wins over Diego Lopes at UFC 314 and UFC 325. At featherweight he is 18-1 across a 14-year career, with three wins over Max Holloway and one over Jose Aldo — and Ilia Topuria remains the only featherweight to have beaten him.
Standing across from him is Movsar Evloev, 20-0, the top-ranked featherweight challenger and a fighter who has earned this shot the hard way. His UFC wins include Lerone Murphy, Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen, Diego Lopes and Dan Ige, with the Murphy decision in London his most recent victory. The 32-year-old Russian, who trains at American Top Team, averages 4.78 takedowns per 15 minutes and lands 3.91 significant strikes per minute at 47 percent accuracy.
The stylistic clash is the story of the fight. Volkanovski's keys are distance, footwork and punishing every entry with combinations; Evloev's are early takedowns, top control and starving the champion of rhythm on the feet. Critics, including Jose Aldo, have called Evloev's style boring — but a 20-0 record against that level of opposition answers most questions, and a win tonight would make him only the second man ever to beat Volkanovski at featherweight. Evloev himself has downplayed legacy talk, saying that winning the belt would only mark "the beginning" of his climb toward all-time-great status, and that even two title defences would not settle the conversation.
UFC 333: Yan vs Dvalishvili 3 for the Bantamweight Title
The co-main event is a trilogy fight with genuine history. Petr Yan, 20-5, is the reigning bantamweight champion, while Merab Dvalishvili, 21-5, is the top-ranked challenger and the division's most famous engine. Dvalishvili won the first meeting in 2023, but Yan — the underdog at UFC 323 — took the title back in the rematch, setting up tonight's decider.
Yan is a switch-stance striker who lands 5.12 significant strikes per minute at 54 percent accuracy, and his keys tonight are stuffing Dvalishvili's shots without losing his striking rhythm. Dvalishvili, nicknamed "The Machine", is the opposite problem: he averages 6.4 takedowns per 15 minutes, the highest output among the card's featured fighters, and his game is built on wrestling for five full rounds while never stopping moving forward. If Yan can keep the fight standing and land clean counters, he holds the edge; if Dvalishvili can chain takedowns across 25 minutes, the belt changes hands. Trilogy fights at this level are rare, and this one settles one of the bantamweight division's defining rivalries.
UFC 333: The Evloev–Tsarukyan Talking Point
One of the week's biggest talking points came away from the two title fights. At the UFC 333 media day on 21 October, Evloev was asked about lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan, who has teased a move down to featherweight for more than a year. Evloev's answer was blunt: featherweight is "my territory", and if Tsarukyan wants the fight, he should "make 145lbs and we'll fight" — if the UFC wants it.
Tsarukyan has since responded that he will stay at lightweight, saying he expects a lightweight title shot early next year and wants to become "the best ever lightweight fighter". He also fought Dillon Danis at Real American Freestyle Wrestling 14 in Las Vegas on Friday. For now, the Evloev–Tsarukyan fight is a talking point rather than a booked bout — and it only happens if Evloev beats Volkanovski tonight and the UFC decides it wants it. It is, however, exactly the kind of cross-division superfight talk that trending fight coverage thrives on, and it has kept UFC 333 in the headlines all week.
UFC 333 Full Fight Card
Main card (2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT / 7:00 PM BST / 11:30 PM IST):
Alexander Volkanovski vs Movsar Evloev — featherweight title
Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili — bantamweight title
Lone'er Kavanagh vs Ramazan Temirov — flyweight
Alexander Volkov vs Rizvan Kuniev — heavyweight
Aaron Pico vs Losene Keita — featherweight
Prelims (12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT / 5:00 PM BST / 9:30 PM IST):
Azamat Murzakanov vs Dominick Reyes — light heavyweight
Nikita Krylov vs Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev — light heavyweight
Abusupiyan Magomedov vs Cameron Rowston — middleweight
Grant Dawson vs Nurullo Aliev — lightweight
Early prelims (10:00 AM ET / 7:00 AM PT / 3:00 PM BST / 7:30 PM IST):
Colby Thicknesse vs Asaf Chopurov; Abubakar Vagaev vs Jacob Malkoun; Bolaji Oki vs Daniel Santos; Kody Steele vs Noah Gagnon; Iasmin Lucindo vs Nicole Caliari.
UFC 333: How to Watch and Start Times
In the United States, UFC 333 streams in full on Paramount+ with a subscription at no extra cost. In India, the card airs on SonyLIV and the Sony Sports Network; in the UK, the main card is on TNT Sports Box Office with prelims on UFC Fight Pass; in Australia, the main card is on Main Event via Foxtel and Kayo Sports, with prelims on Paramount+.
Full start times: early prelims 10:00 AM ET / 3:00 PM BST / 7:30 PM IST; prelims 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM BST / 9:30 PM IST; main card 2:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM BST / 11:30 PM IST (Sunday 5:00 AM AEDT in Australia). With two title fights, a heavyweight clash between Volkov and Kuniev, and the explosive Pico–Keita featherweight opener, UFC 333 is built to deliver — and by Sunday morning, two divisions could have new champions. For more big-fight coverage, see the FIFA Women's Club World Cup 2028 announcement and the World Series opener on Worldlession's sports pages.
Note: This is a preview published before the event. Results will be covered separately once UFC 333 concludes.
Update: the results are now published — see the UFC 333 results.
Sources: MMA Junkie; Khel Now; Bloody Elbow; Boxing News; MiddleEasy.