UFC 333: Volkanovski vs Evloev - Oct 24 🇦🇪

[wandshogun09]

Back in Abu Dhabi with this beauty…

PARAMOUNT+ MAIN CARD
Alexander Volkanovski©️vs Movsar Evloev - Featherweight Title

Petr Yan©️vs Merab Dvalishvili - Bantamweight Title 

Lone’er Kavanagh vs Ramazan Temirov 

Alexander Volkov vs Rizvan Kuniev 

Aaron Pico vs Losene Keita 

PARAMOUNT+ PRELIMS 
Azamat Murzakanov vs Dominick Reyes 

Nikita Krylov vs Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev 

Abus Magomedov vs Cam Rowston 

Grant Dawson vs Nurullo Aliev 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS
Asaf Chopurov vs Colby Thicknesse 

Abubakar Vagaev vs Jacob Malkoun 

Daniel Santos vs Bolaji Oki 

Noah Gugnon vs Kody Steele 

Iasmin Lucindo vs Nicolle Caliari 

 

Big fan of this card. First off, that main and co-main one-two is class. At a time when we’re seeing some weird matchmaking and title pictures are in shambles left and right, it’s nice to see a double header of title fights here that feel legit with deserving challengers. There’s a few fights scattered around the undercard that I’m not bothered about, there always is, but on the whole I think this card has some serious quality throughout. Oh and we get the early start time. 3pm prelims, 7pm main card. Get in! Don’t think it’s on Box Office either, I thought it might be, to be honest. Lovely stuff.

 

Alexander Volkanovski vs Movsar Evloev headlines. A fight that feels overdue. The right fight to make in the Featherweight division. And to be honest, a very intriguing one styles-wise. Really interested to see how these two match up because, at 145, we really haven’t seen Volk face many wrestlers. Those Islam Makhachev fights were up at Lightweight. The last time we saw Volk against a guy who was predominantly wrestling-based at 145, you’re going all the way back to 2018 and the Chad Mendes fight. Volk, at this later stage of his career, facing an undefeated guy like Evloev feels like it could be one of his toughest challenges. But we’ll see. On the flip side, on paper it’s definitely the toughest challenge of Evloev’s career to date.

A true all time great right there. When he finally lays down the gloves and it’s all done and dusted, Alexander Volkanovski is going down as one of the absolute best fighters the sport of MMA has ever seen. Undoubtedly one of the greatest Featherweights of all time and you can make a strong case that he’s number one. Wins over Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo, Max Holloway three fucking times, Brian Ortega when he was still young and in form, Korean Zombie, Yair Rodriguez and Diego Lopes twice. The Holloway wins alone put him at HOF status because Holloway is also one of the greatest 145ers ever. To go 3-0 over that guy is insane. Not to mention, by their third fight Volk had him completely figured out and it was the most one-sided of their trilogy. That night was probably Volk at his absolute peak. He also deserves massive respect for his efforts up a weight class against Makhachev. Their first fight in early 2023 was a classic and to go up in weight and give another one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the game such a hard fight shows how great Volk is. The rematch was a disaster but Volk also jumped in on stupidly short notice so deserves credit for that too. Regardless, his Featherweight resume speaks for itself. A living legend.

Russia’s Evloev is 32 years old, undefeated at 20-0 and has been on the UFC roster since 2019. He’s won ten straight fights in the UFC. Looking at all that in black and white, it might seem kind of odd that he’s only just now getting his first crack at UFC gold. But there’s been a few things going against him. One, he’s had quite a few setbacks with injuries over the years which has caused him to lose both time and momentum in his career. And two, the UFC brass clearly aren’t big fans of his fighting style and don’t see him as marketable. The marketability thing, whatever, he’s not the most interesting personality. I get it. And the fighting style, it’s a fact he’s a decision merchant. He’s only managed finishes in 7 of his 20 wins and he’s finished none of his 10 UFC fights. I think the reputation he has for being boring is harsh though myself. He had three really enjoyable fights in a row against Diego Lopes, Arnold Allen and Aljamain Sterling in about an 18 month spell in 2023-24. Then in his last fight he beat fellow undefeated top contender Lerone Murphy in the main event of the London card in March. It was close and many felt Murphy should’ve got the decision, but in the end it went to Evloev and here we are.

Volk’s 38 years old now and there’s been rumblings surrounding his more recent fights that he’s close to retiring. He’s denied it but I get the impression there’s something to it and he’s looking at this as his last run, taking it one fight at a time and his next loss might well be his last fight. Even now, in the final chapter of his career, he’s still running circles around younger guys like Diego Lopes. I think it was quite obvious the UFC wanted Lopes to win that one, which is probably why they did the unnecessary immediate rematch despite Volk already beating him clearly the first time. Bullshit and it actually pissed me off that, with Volk’s limited time left in the sport, they were wasting one of his few remaining fights on a needless rematch with Lopes when there were other more deserving contenders waiting in the wings. To be fair to Volk, even he was quite vocal in his confusion about them running the Lopes rematch instead of giving guys like Evloev and Lerone Murphy a shot. It always seemed like it was a UFC decision, not a Volk decision, to deny those guys their chance. The fact the UFC even booked that Evloev vs Murphy fight felt like they just wanted to eliminate one of them from the title race. Volk seems well up for a fresh challenge though.

“I’m very confident I beat all these guys. All of them. I look at fighting the best. If we’re talking legacy, who do we want? I want the undefeated guy that’s beat all the top guys, ‘cause I know that beating him is gonna look good on my resume. I’m confident that Movsar’s gonna keep beating all these other fighters after, so it’s gonna age well.”

“Spam wrestling with me. I know it ain’t gonna be a boring fight with me ‘cause you ain’t holding me down. I don’t want you to feel like you have to strike with me. I don’t want any excuses. I want you trying to spam wrestling. He’s obviously a winner, he knows how to win, and I want him to try that with me just to show him that, yeah, you know how to win, but not against me.” - Alexander Volkanovski

I like the edge to this talk. Seems like he really wants to prove a point in this one. The “I don’t want you to feel like you have to strike” bit is referring to Evloev’s fight against Murphy. Evloev oddly neglected his wrestling for a lot of that fight and it seemed like he did it on purpose because he knew he was unlikely to get a title shot if he won by just wrestling. I think there’s truth to it because as soon as Evloev started wrestling towards the end of the fight, he was having his way. Felt like he let the fight become much closer than it needed to be by opting to strike more, he probably could’ve won more convincingly had he stuck with his bread and butter. Sad state of affairs really when fighters feel they have to deviate from their style and strengths to appease Dana or whoever. But yeah, that’s why Volk is saying that. He wants Evloev’s A-game.

How we seeing this then? I’m probably gonna lean towards Volk but I genuinely think Evloev might give him some problems here. The Murphy fight being so close is probably gonna make people think this is an easier fight for Volk than it really is but I think it’s misleading. Like I said, I think Evloev fought more of a standup fight that night specifically because he thought it would give him a better chance of pleasing Dana and the matchmakers and securing the title shot. Now he’s got the shot, I think he’s gonna fight more to his strengths. But Volk’s not gonna be easy to take down and he’s gonna be even harder to keep down. We saw that in the first Makhachev fight and Makhachev is obviously significantly bigger than Evloev. And on the feet, Volk’s the better striker hands down. But I think this is a fascinating clash of styles. Fan opinions and predictions are probably gonna be heavily favouring Volk because he’s understandably loved and Evloev seems to be mostly disliked. But I can see this being a real battle and personally, I’m really glad this fight is happening just because it’s a different kind of opponent for Volk than we’re used to seeing. It feels fresh, which is very much welcome after Volk’s been stuck in the Lopes loop for the better part of two years.

 

Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili 3 is a phenomenal co-main event. Easily could’ve headlined a card itself this one. The way the first two thirds of their trilogy have played out so far makes this one very interesting. They’re all tied at 1-1 and both guys respective wins were in convincing and pretty dominant fashion. Then you factor in the injuries possibly effecting both in the previous fights, Merab’s reign of terror over the Bantamweight division going into the rematch and then Yan’s unexpected return to form and regaining the title, it’s been quite a rivalry so far. Now we’re gonna settle the score.

Petr Yan being the man to stop Merab’s run as champion back in December was not what I expected to happen. Merab had won their first fight in March 2023 with a complete shutout on the scorecards. Just about as lopsided as a fight gets. At the time it felt like it signalled the end of Yan’s prime. It was that one-sided a loss. Yan had been at the top of his game just a couple of years earlier and was being talked about as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the game around the time he was putting on showcase performances against the likes of Urijah Faber, Jose Aldo and Cory Sandhagen. He was the champion and I think many felt he was about to go on a long reign. By the time he fought Merab though, he’d already lost the title on a disqualification and then dropped back-to-back decisions against Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley. They were close, hotly debated split decision losses though. The Merab loss was not only his third loss in a row, it was one-way traffic. As skilled as Yan was, it felt like he was never getting near that belt again. He worked his way back with wins over Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo in 2024 but was given an odd step down and beat Marcus McGhee in July 2025. He got the title shot rematch against Merab off the back of that win, which didn’t feel like enough. I’ll admit, I completely dismissed Yan’s chances going into that Merab rematch. He’d looked solid but unspectacular against mid-level McGhee and Merab had been on a tear and had already successfully defended his title three times between January and October 2025 with wins over Umar Nurmagomedov, O’Malley and Sandhagen. All signs seemed to be pointing towards another successful title defence for Merab, which would’ve been a record setting fourth in 2025. Didn’t pan out like that.

Merab got busted up pretty good en route to losing a clear decision and his title. It’s gonna be weird seeing Merab as the challenger again here. His reign wasn’t even that long but he was such an active champ, crammed a lot into a fairly short reign and he won his defences so clearly it felt like he had a longer run on top. He tweeted in the immediate aftermath of the loss that he’d been battling norovirus and had an injured hand going in which could’ve been factors in why it was so surprisingly one-sided but it also comes off as shameless excuse making. Who knows? One thing I did think might’ve been a factor though, and I said it at the time, is Merab possibly being burnt out going in. Like I said, he’d already defended the title three times in 10 months last year before the Yan fight in December. Take into account the consecutive training camps and three weight cuts in a relatively short timeframe and that’s a lot to put your body through. It’s one thing cramming quick turnarounds and multiple fights in on the regional scene but when we’re talking about five round title fights at the highest level in arguably the toughest weight class in the UFC, it’s insane to even try to attempt four title defences in a year. Not an excuse, Yan fought his arse off and that was the main reason it went how it did. But I can’t dismiss it as a possible factor either.

“I’m working very hard but now I’m trying to be smart. I was working hard for my last fight but I wasn’t taking breaks. I was just training and burning myself out. Petr Yan will never be an easy fight for me. I knew that but it even surprised me how good he is and how hard he hits. If I don’t prepare really, really well, he will beat the shit out of me again.” - Merab Dvalishvili

Great, great fight this. And neither have fought since that December fight. So if burnout was an issue for Merab last time, it’s not gonna be here. He’s gone from fighting four times in 2025 to not fighting at all yet in 2026. He probably needed that break so hopefully we see the absolute best of him here and hopefully Yan’s been able to build on his incredible performance last time and we get both firing on all cylinders. Yan really shocked me in that last fight. I genuinely believed that Yan’s prime had been and gone, that his best days were behind him. But that was the best performance of his career easy. Even if you buy into the Merab burnout talk, and again I do think there’s something to it, that doesn’t account for just how clear a win this was for Yan. I do think we’ll see a better Merab here but if Yan fights the way he did last time, it’s gonna be a bastard to get that belt off him on that kind of form. Can’t wait. Might be looking forward to this more than the main event, to be honest.

 

Lone’er Kavanagh vs Ramazan Temirov could be a cracker. Kavanagh fights generally are very entertaining whether he wins or loses. But man, they’re really not giving him any soft touches are they? He got knocked out by Charles Johnson then took a short notice main event against Brandon Moreno, in Mexico. He put on a bit of a masterclass there and beat Moreno. Then in his last fight in July he got subbed by Brandon Royval in another corker. Then coming off that loss, they’re throwing him in with this guy?

That’s Temirov absolutely walloping Steve Erceg in the first round on the last Abu Dhabi card back in July. He’s from Uzbekistan, 29 years old and he’s 20-2 with 13 inside the distance. He’s no joke. He’s not typically some bomber either, the way that Erceg fight played out was a bit of a surprise. From what I remember Temirov’s more of a grinder. So he might actually be even more of an awkward opponent for Kavanagh. I don’t think he’s just gonna stand and trade here. You never know though, after sparking Erceg like that he might fancy his chances on the feet.

 

Alexander Volkov vs Rizvan Kuniev. Sigh. If we must. Can’t say I’m feeling this. The one fight on the main card that I’m really not looking forward to. Kind of feel bad for Volkov. He had that controversial decision loss to Ciryl Gane at the end of 2024 where fans and media almost unanimously thought Volkov got shafted. Dana was caught on camera after the fight telling Volkov to his face that the judges “fucked him” but that they’d make it right or some bollocks. And here we are two years later. Gane’s out there blinding cunts and getting rewarded with the title and headlining MSG. And Volkov…well, he’s piss-arsing about with Kuniev. In fairness, Volkov hasn’t done himself any favours since that Gane fight. He’s won back-to-back decisions against Jailton Almeida and Waldo Cortes Acosta but they were both absolutely rotten fights. Like, literally both were Worst Fight Of The Year level stuff. But still. It must piss him off seeing Gane cheat, foul and bullshit his way to the gold. Can’t even be bothered to talk about Kuniev. He’s 34 years old, 14-3-1-1 and went 1-1 in rotten fights with Blaydes and Almeida before stopping Tyrell Fortune in a surprising FOTN last time out.

 

Aaron Pico vs Losene Keita opens up the main card and what a perfect way to kick things off. Easy choice as ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** for me this. Can’t go wrong. And this wasn’t even the original fight. It was supposed to be Pico against Arnold Allen, which was a really good bit of matchmaking in its own right. Allen dropped out, Keita stepped in and I genuinely think this is an upgrade.

Pretty badass quote. Pico’s flaws are well documented. The man’s mega aggressive, sometimes to his own detriment. He’s 14-5 and pretty much all his losses can be chalked up to him chasing the kill so much he forgot the other guy can hit back and got caught with something nasty. It was his undoing against Lerone Murphy in his UFC debut. Offensively he’s a lot to handle but defensively he’s always been lacking. Murphy put him out with a spinning elbow. Pico did rebound nicely on the Miami card in April, taking a decision off Patricio Pitbull. He didn’t get the finish but I actually felt like it was one of Pico’s best performances. He was still aggressive but he fought a bit smarter and I think it was only for the fact Pitbull has a concrete head that it went the distance. As for Keita, he didn’t get off to the best start in the UFC either. He dropped a decision to Nathaniel Wood in his debut. Like Pico though, he came back in style…

That’s how his last fight ended. Sparked Muhammad Naimov in the first round, spotted an empty seat at cageside, hopped the fence, sat in the seat and gave himself a round of applause. One of the maddest finishing sequences you’ll ever see. That was the Paris card in early September, so although he’s stepped in on short notice here, he was straight back in camp on an almost immediate turnaround so he should still be sharp. Love this fight. Pico’s still only just turned 30, Keita is 28. Both are coming in with some momentum and both are hungry to make a statement and are looking to get themselves into a good spot in the rankings. Feels like great timing for these two to cross paths. Got a really good feeling about this. Feels like it has all the ingredients for a bit of a crazy fight.

 

Azamat Murzakanov vs Dominick Reyes. Not too fussed about this, to be honest, but it could be alright I suppose. Murzakanov just seems too small for 205 to me, especially against these guys at the bigger end of the division. I guess his stocky frame would make it hard to cut to Middleweight though. Too big for 185, too small for 205, he’s kind of stuck in that no man’s land. He’s done alright despite that though. He went 16-0 until he ran into Paulo Costa last time out and got stopped by a headkick. I remember him doing pretty well early in that fight as well. But he’s already 37 and it kind of feels like he’s already hit his ceiling. Reyes has had a funny old career. He was undefeated and everything was going great until he got robbed against Jon Jones in 2020. That started a horrible slump and four fight losing skid. He clawed it back with a three fight streak of knockout wins which really saved his career. Then he got chinned by Carlos Ulberg in Perth last year. Then won a decision over Johnny Walker in a dud back in April. Yeah. Not sure what to expect here. There’s definitely potential for fireworks. Murzakanov can whack and he’ll obviously be looking to get back on track. Hopefully Reyes goes for it and we get something decent out of this.

 

Nikita Krylov vs Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev is actually kind of interesting to me. Krylov’s clearly nothing special. He’s 34 years old, 40-odd fights deep into his career and he’s 1-3 in his last 4. We last saw him getting his jaw nearly twatted off his head by Robert Whittaker in July. He is what he is at this point. He’s not gonna go on some miraculous surge all of a sudden. But he’s knocked around, fought some big names and he’s experienced. It’s Yakhyaev I’m interested in here. He’s Russian born but fights out of Turkey, he’s 25 years old and he’s undefeated at 10-0 with 9 coming inside the distance. So far, so good. But the knock on him has been his level of opposition. He’s 3-0 in the UFC, all first round finishes, all less than three minutes. But he’s beat Rafael Cerqueira, Brendson Ribeiro and Julius Walker. Bottom rung of the ladder jabronis. He chinned Walker in just 8 seconds last time out, for fuck’s sake. No need to rush him but it’s clear he’s needed a bit of a step up. Say what you want about Krylov but he’s definitely that. So yeah, Yakhyaev has looked a handful so far but I’m hoping Krylov can at least ask a few questions of him here.

 

Abus Magomedov vs Cam Rowston I’m neither here nor there on. Not the best, not the worst. Just midcard filler. Magomedov is 36 years old with a record of 29-7-1 and 22 finishes. If he’s remembered at all it’s probably for his loss to Sean Strickland back in 2023. That win is oddly what bagged Strickland his title shot against Israel Adesanya, and we know how that went. So I’ve held a grudge against Magomedov ever since. He’s had mixed results in the UFC, he’s going nowhere. He’s coming into this fight off a submission over Michal Oleksiejczuk in June, but Oleksiejczuk has no ground game so how impressive is that really? Rowston’s Aussie, 31 years old and 15-3 with 13 not making it to the scorecards. He’s 3-0 in the UFC so far but it’s been ham and egger city.

 

Grant Dawson vs Nurullo Aliev feels very much like the matchmakers going ‘let’s just put these two boring bastards against each other, that way one of them definitely loses’. I don’t hate the fight myself and sometimes these tunnel vision grappler vs tunnel vision grappler fights turn out to be really fun. Could also be a snoozer but I’ll give it a chance. Dawson’s 32 years old and 24-3-1. He’s actually got a really solid UFC record of 12-2-1 with good wins over the likes of Jared Gordon, Mark Madsen, Damir Ismagulov (who at one point was expected to be one of the new wave of 155ers taking over) and Carlos Diego Ferreira. He’s no bum. But his reputation as a ground based grinder has definitely held him back. I don’t think he’s that bad to watch myself. He’s coming into this fight off a submission win over Mateusz Rebecki in May. Tajikistan’s Aliev is kind of similar. He’s 25 years old, undefeated at 12-0, yet he’s never talked about as a strong prospect and he never really moves up the ladder. And it’s surely because of that grinding style. It’s been effective for him but it’s an open secret that the UFC don’t like that style. In his last two fights he’s derailed the hype train of Shem Rock and grappled Mike Davis into oblivion to the point Davis had a massive meltdown on social media about wrestling being “gay” and stuff. Quite looking forward to seeing how this goes. I’m not expecting a thriller or anything but I’m intrigued to see how their grappling matches up.

 

Asaf Chopurov vs Colby Thicknesse is a fight to keep an eye on. This is Chopurov’s UFC debut and I’m reading and hearing a lot of good things about him. Seeing lots of talk that he’s a serious prospect and one of the better signings the UFC have made this year. When you consider that in 2026 we’ve seen the Octagon debuts of guys like Salahdine Parnasse and Roberto Soldic, he’s in pretty solid company there. 

He’s 24 years old, Azerbaijani but fights out of Russia and he’s 11-0 with 10 not needing the judges input. Apparently he also went 34-1 as an amateur. He won the UAE Warriors Bantamweight title last year and has successfully defended it twice. He’s also a teammate of Petr Yan, so it makes sense him debuting on this card and he’ll no doubt benefit from being in camp with Yan. From what I can tell his main strength is his grappling but he’s said to be very comfortable striking too, although his defence isn’t amazing yet. He definitely sounds promising. They’re not giving him a complete scrub here either. Thicknesse is no world beater but he’s 9-1, coming off a couple of wins and he’s one of Volk’s main training partners. So again, he’ll be in camp with Volk for this fight which can only help him. Definitely gonna be watching this with a lot of interest.

 

Abubakar Vagaev vs Jacob Malkoun is whatever. Don’t hate it, it just doesn’t move me. Vagaev signed with the UFC earlier this year and he was a decent enough pick up, I guess. Former champ in the ACA promotion in Russia, he’s 25-4, a teammate of Khamzat Chimaev and has some solid wins over recognisable names like Albert Tumenov and Michel Pereira. Not an earth shattering signing but not bad. The problem is, based on the limited stuff I’ve seen of him, he doesn’t seem very exciting to watch. Out of his 25 wins he’s only managed 5 finishes and his UFC debut win over Saygid Izagakhmaev in July was a bit of a snoozefest as I recall. Malkoun’s Australian, 31 years old, 10-3 and on a three fight win streak. Never particularly rated him really. He’s one of them that’s been on the roster since 2020 and done nothing that’s stuck in the memory in all that time. He beat our boy Gerald Meerschaert on points last time out on the Perth card in May but sadly Gerald’s looking well past it these days.

 

Daniel Santos vs Bolaji Oki should be exciting for however long it lasts. Don’t think I’ve ever been bored by either of these two yet. Santos hasn’t always been the most consistent in terms of results but he pretty much always brings it. He’s 14-3 now and coming off a TKO loss via body shot against the Korean Superboy in May. Before that though, he’d won four in a row. Belgium’s Oki’s 30 years old and 10-4 with 6 finishes. He’s had a rough run in the UFC but never a dull moment. Badly needs a win here though, he’s coming off back-to-back stoppage losses to Mason Jones (in a banger) and Manoel Sousa.

 

Noah Gugnon vs Kody Steele. I’ll be tuning in early for this. Think I’ve said it a few times on here but Steele has been great to watch so far in the UFC. He’s 31 years old and 8-1 with 6 finishes. He’s gone 1-1 so far in the UFC, a points loss to Rongzhu in a hidden gem last year, then he bounced back with a first round heel hook win over Dom Mar Fan on the Perth card in May. Gugnon is probably expected to win though. He’s French, 25 years old and 10-2 with a 100% finish rate. He fought in Ares in France previously and made his UFC debut on the Serbia card in August, submitting Milos Janicic in the first round.

 

Iasmin Lucindo vs Nicolle Caliari kicks off the night. Can’t say I’m arsed but whatever. Not a terrible fight. I remember loving Lucindo’s UFC debut fight with Yazmin Jauregui back in 2022, to be fair. Think both were debuting, both were really young and I had zero expectations going in. Turned out to be a banger. She’s still only 24 now and she has a record of 18-6 with 11 finishes. Not gonna pretend I can remember a lot about her UFC run after that Jauregui fight but she’s had some alright wins over the division’s veterans like Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Marina Rodriguez and Angela Hill. Caliari’s 29 with a 9-4 record and all 9 wins coming inside the distance. She got off to a rough start in the UFC, going 0-2, but she finally got her first Octagon win in May, subbing Shauna Bannon. Whatever that’s worth. Not expecting much from this but I’ll probably end up watching it because of the early start time.

 

 

And that’s 333.

Edited October 11 by wandshogun09

[sirdobbo89]

Is this what we've come to? A numbered UFC event this weekend and not one comment? 

To be fair, it mirrors my UFC fandom, in the past 18 months it's completely fallen off a cliff. Once you stop wafching on the regular, it'd harder to get back in. All these fighters you don't know, don't have a reason to care about etc (despite the brilliant write up above as usual). 

There are few fighters still in the UFC that I'd care to go out of my way to watch and Volk is probably the top of that list. Incredible he's still the champ after all this time, the nicest bloke going, those skits he did for that betting company or whatever it was, the ring walk. Just a great, great man who has entertained me over the years. Hope he pulls it off but it's a tall order at 38 against an undefeated wrestler. 

This is in Australia right? If he pulls it out the bag and walked off into the sunset, you couldn't get any better than that could you? 

I don't watch enough now but Robbie Lawler has the best MMA retirement from recent memory. This would top it. 

War Volk. 

Oh it's Abu Dhabi. Not Aus. Still. Go out on a win against a young undefeated lad. Go on Volk. 

Edited October 22 by sirdobbo89
Not reading where the event actually is.

[Egg Shen]

1 comment aside, this is a belting card😄

[Egg Shen]

I've just realised i'm child free this weekend so that 7pm start time has my name written all over it, i'm in.

Some shape on the lads, i'd be topless too.

[wandshogun09]

It’s Yan vs Merab 3 day so I’m revisiting their last fight before the big rubber match tonight. If you wanna refresh your memory on their first fight from 2023, I did a full review of that in the UFC 323 thread last year before the second fight. But basically, both came in hindered by hand injuries and it was a one-way traffic decision for Merab. This was their rematch in December last year.

It was the last title fight of 2025 and I don’t think anyone expected much more than another successful title defence from Merab. And probably in another lopsided points win. I know that’s how I thought it’d go. As good as Yan is/was, I think the general consensus was that his peak had come and gone and it was Merab’s time. That feeling was only strengthened by the fact that Merab had already defended the belt three times already in 2025 with dominant wins over Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O’Malley and Cory Sandhagen. Whereas Yan was coming off a win over mid level Marcus McGhee in a solid but unspectacular performance. It felt like Yan was only even getting the title shot because Merab was burning through challengers at such a rate that there wasn’t really anyone else to slot into that position at that moment. Felt like another run of the mill title defence for Merab. And a win here would see him set the record for most title defences in a calendar year at four. Merab was already being talked about in the GOAT 135ers conversation at this point and he seemed to be a lock for Fighter Of The Year.

Merab Dvalishvili©️vs Petr Yan - Bantamweight Title

UFC 323: Dvalishvili vs Yan 2

December 6th 2025

Las Vegas, Nevada 

Usual PPV commentary squad here of Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier. And Marc Goddard is on refereeing duties. Yeah I completely dismissed Yan’s chances going into this rematch. The way the first fight played out plus with Merab going from strength to strength since that first fight, becoming champ and the momentum he had coming into this one, I just couldn’t see past another one-sided decision for him. I hoped Yan would make a bit of a fight of it but I definitely didn’t expect it. My interest in this fight was pretty much all based on seeing if Merab could make history and get that fourth title defence in before the year was out.

Here we go.

Round 1: Yan immediately coming forward as the fight starts and Merab seems happy to strike a bit for now. He lands a few decent punches early. He’s never been a great striker but he’s definitely shown improvements in that area in his last few fights. He looks comfortable on the feet here early on. Yan trying to get his jab going. Halfway through the first round and Merab hasn’t made any attempts at grappling yet. Big right hand by Yan stuns Merab for a second…

Merab didn’t look majorly hurt by it but it definitely registered. With that one punch alone, Yan has already done better than he did in the first fight. That’s how one-sided it was back in 2023. Yan sticking the jab in his face and now Merab wants that takedown. It’s a struggle though and Yan defends it. It was never gonna be easy. The one thing Yan did really well in the first fight was defend takedowns. Apparently Yan defended 38 of them in the first fight. Thirty eight! Insane. The problem was Merab just kept on him and Yan wasn’t able to make anything count on the feet. Like the first fight, Merab is finding it hard to get the takedown here but he’s able to clinch up and stifle Yan against the fence for a good chunk of the end of the round. It’s 10-9 Merab for me. Yan had that one big punch but I don’t think it was enough to win him the round.

Round 2: Merab going the takedown route much earlier in this round. Took him less than 20 seconds to shoot in. Again though, Yan’s defending it beautifully. Merab has to abandon it. Yan has gotta be one of the best anti-grapplers of all time, right? Crazy how difficult he is to take down and keep down. And fuck me…

Yan actually takes Merab down! Incredible. Doesn’t last. Merab rolls through and ends up taking Yan’s back briefly. But very impressive that Yan was able to hit that takedown on him at all. Merab has the waistlock and they stand up but now Yan rolls out of it. This is great. They throw hands for a second and Merab immediately goes for the single leg. Yan not only defends it on one leg, he’s landing strikes as well. Defending and doing damage at the same time. I wish more fighters would or could do that. Merab still managing to mostly neutralise Yan against the fence late again though and that’s never how you wanna end a round. They finally separate with seconds left in the round. Yan with a hard right and Merab lands a few punches. And that’s another round in the books. Gotta say, I’ve got it 10-9 Merab again. Could see it for Yan but, as impressive as the takedown was, he wasn’t able to do anything with it. And Merab controlled more of the round.

Round 3: Yan marching forward again to start the round and he’s throwing kicks to the body and head. They don’t really find their target but it shows that Yan has no fear of Merab’s takedowns, for him to be kicking that freely. Merab’s nose is looking mashed up now, well even more than usual. Merab lands a nice right hand and hooks Yan’s head like he’s going for a standing guillotine. Yan’s having none of it, picks him up and just dumps him on his head…

Christ. Merab pops back up right away but eats a couple of digs on the break. Merab trying to strike but Yan is starting to bust him up a bit now. He’s getting the better of the punching exchanges and lands a good knee. Merab’s face is starting to show the damage a lot as well. He’s still in it though.

Yan is straight back up, Merab holds onto the waist and drags him back to the mat, Yan’s back up again. This is absolutely gruelling stuff. Yan’s defended it again though and breaks free. Back in striking range and, at this point, it’s pretty clear this is not where Merab wants to be. He goes for another single leg but Yan stuffs it again. Another couple of half hearted attempts to initiate takedowns come nowhere near. It’s starting to look a bit desperate for Merab now. The commentators seem to be trying to start the ‘Yan is slowing down’ narrative but this is by far his best round so far. Yan with a body kick, stops another takedown and lands a couple of punches. Yan’s defended so many takedowns here I haven’t even attempted to keep count. Nice knee to the body by Yan. Around 20 seconds left in the round…

And Yan blasts Merab with a fucking horrible kick to the body. Merab actually lets out a scream and can’t help but kind of hunch over for a second, grimace and go on the retreat. Brutal kick. He’s lucky it was the end of the round because he manages to just tie Yan up for the last few seconds and survive. Obviously a Yan round that. The clearest by either man so far. Into the ‘championship rounds’ we go.

Round 4: Merab coming out with a little bit more urgency here, goes for a takedown right away but Yan hits a lovely switch. Merab goes for a guillotine but Yan’s defending it well, pops his head out of danger and now he’s on top. They’re back up and Yan with a knee to the body on the break. Bit messy now on the feet, both throwing but nothing significant landing clean. Merab’s only throwing to try to open up his chances to grapple but Yan’s basically shut that down at this stage.

Looks like Yan connects kind of on the top of the head/temple area and has Merab on wobbly legs again. Merab gets through it and recovers but Yan’s all over him now. Merab looks completely out of ideas and physically he looks proper battered now. He tries again for a takedown, Yan again defends it easily and then rips in a nasty left to the body…

This is miserable for Merab at this point. Everything he tries, Yan has an answer for and it’s usually a painful one. Merab’s tough as shit, there’s no doubt about it. Because some of these shots to the body would’ve easily folded a lesser fighter. Somehow he’s gutted through it but Yan’s just walking him down and slowly dismantling him here. Yan tries that spinning punch thing he did in the Sandhagen fight but it doesn’t quite connect. You can see he’s feeling it though. He is looking tired at this point, anyone would, but he’s in the zone here. Merab still throwing punches in the dying seconds as Yan walks towards him like the Terminator. Another clear Yan round. So I’ve got them even at 2-2, or 38-38, going into the last round. But the momentum of the fight is clearly with Yan.

Round 5: Yan coming out with side kicks to Merab’s knee now. As if Merab wasn’t suffering enough with his face now looking like raw mince and his body in bits. Now you’re gonna try to kick his kneecaps backwards? Little bastard. Merab just getting into a sloppy Boxing match now, right until Yan digs a fist into his body again and he immediately goes for another takedown. No luck and Yan continues the mugging.

Anik tells us Merab has gone a dismal 2-25 on takedown attempts and we’re 22 minutes into this 25 minute fight. Jesus. Merab’s face is pissing blood, his nose is clearly broken, he’s been battered to the body, the commentators said something about his jaw being injured. And on top of all that, mentally he’s gotta be completely frazzled and frustrated beyond belief because he can’t get anything going at all here. Merab with a desperation guillotine attempt that goes nowhere and there’s only about 90 seconds to go now. Yan with another devastating body kick…

Merab’s facial expression there says it all, doesn’t it? Just complete and utter despair. That’s the face of a man who really wishes he took the day off work. To Merab’s credit, there’s no quit in him. He soldiers on like he has through the rest of the punishment he’s soaked up in this fight. But it’s crystal clear that this is a battle he can’t win on this night. He goes for another takedown, because at this point what else can he try, and Yan shuts that shit down again and knees him right in his already smashed up face for his efforts. Merab still throwing punches with his face falling apart in the last minute, bless him, just trying to make something happen. Yan with a headkick and…

In the dying seconds of the fight, Yan puts one last exclamation point on a truly great performance. And that’s it. It’s a wrap. And it’s obviously another Yan round. So my final scorecard is 48-47 Yan. Which is closer on paper than I thought I’d have it but Yan didn’t really fully turn the heat up until the last three rounds. I felt like Merab probably edged the first two rounds. I could definitely see the case for having it wider for Yan though, either by giving him another round or maybe there’s an argument for a 10-8 in there. Because he certainly won his rounds more convincingly than Merab won his. Regardless, however you chop it up it’s a Yan win. He gets redemption, evens the score with Merab to 1-1 in their trilogy and he’s the champ once again.

Winner - Petr Yan by unanimous decision.

I’m not even exaggerating when I say I genuinely think this from Petr Yan was one of the absolute greatest title fight performances in MMA history. When you factor in who he beat, how he did it, how he rebounded from that one-sided shutout in the first fight, the fact Merab had been steamrolling the whole division coming into the fight. It was a special kind of performance. Easily the best of Yan’s own career but it ranks among the best I’ve ever seen in all my years watching this stuff. Completely unexpected as well, as I said. You look at other high level, all timer performances, like say Volkanovski’s third win over Holloway, it was as elite a performance as it gets but Volk winning that fight in itself wasn’t necessarily unexpected. This one was both a phenomenal performance from Yan but also in a fight he wasn’t even expected to win. I don’t think enough was made really of how incredible a win this was. I think fans and media move on to the next thing so quickly these days because of the endless schedule but now the third fight is upon us, people are remembering ‘oh yeah, Yan did something pretty amazing there’.

How does Part 3 go then? Honestly I don’t even know what to think anymore. I was so sure going into that last fight that Merab was gonna go 2-0 and move onto the next contender. Yan shocked me and totally flipped the whole thing upside down. My initial thought was that I do think Merab fighting so much last year probably did cause some level of burnout and that could’ve been a factor. I do believe there’s something to that. I keep saying ‘Merab had already defended the belt three times in 2025 before that Yan rematch’ but when you really look at Merab’s schedule, it’s even worse than that. If you go from the Sphere card in 2024 where he won the title from O’Malley, he actually fought five times in 15 months. And these were all title fights, so he was basically in constant training camps all that time, training for five rounders against the best guys in arguably the toughest weight class in the UFC, and had five weight cuts in just over a year. Call it excuses if you want but that’s fucking mental. I still give Yan the bulk of the credit because he fought out of his skin. But I can’t help but wonder if Merab was also at the end of his rope a bit with all the stress on his body and overtraining. So I was kind of thinking a rested up and fresh Merab might get it done this time. Then I saw this recent quote from Merab on the loss to Yan in the second fight…

“In the second round, I really tried to get my takedowns going again. But within ten seconds, all my energy was gone, and I was like, ‘What now?’ I didn’t think I could take him down anymore. The plan was to do whatever I wanted. I said I could try to strike with him, and if I wanted to, I could take him down. I was striking with him, and he got me. Then, in the second round, I tried to take him down, and I was like, ‘What should I do now?’ In the second round, I realised I wasn’t going to win this fight, so I decided to just enjoy it.” - Merab Dvalishvili 

Bit concerning that. I’ve seen some comments calling him a “quitter” for this quote but this doesn’t seem like quitting to me. If he wanted to quit, there were a bunch of times in the fight where he could’ve easily found a way out. No-one would’ve blamed him or thought much of it if he went down from one of those body shots. It sounds to me like he knew from very early on that he was outgunned on the feet and he wasn’t gonna be able to get Yan down and keep him there so basically his roads to victory were closed off. Him still fighting on, gutting through some brutal moments and giving the effort he did right to the very last minute in a fight he already knew he was most likely gonna lose, that’s the opposite of quitting. But still, it does make me wonder, what can he do differently this time? Petr Yan is still gonna be the better striker. That’s never gonna change. So if he can’t get his grappling going again this time, it’s probably gonna go badly for him again. The only thing I can think is that he believes it really was a case of burnout last time. He mentions “all my energy was gone” as early as that second round. He also tweeted after that fight something about having norovirus. Who knows? But all this talk made me kind of flip and start thinking Yan might win again. Then I saw something the other day that Yan had back surgery in January. And now I don’t know where the fuck I sit with this. Back surgery obviously isn’t something you rush back from and you’re never gonna be quite the same after something like that. I imagine it’s a good few months of just recovery time before you can start living like a normal person again. And Yan’s somehow done a whole training camp and weight cut and is back in the cage within 10 months? I don’t like the sound of it. I might’ve come full circle here actually, think I’m back to picking Merab 😂

[Carbomb]

Only performance I can think of at 135 that comes close to Yan's in terms of quality and surprise element is Garbrandt's against Cruz, but he'd been undefeated leading up to that, so it wasn't entirely surprising. If anything, it was Garbrandt's falling off a cliff after that that was the shock.

I suppose the thing with Yan is that he'd already actually been champion before, and there's a tendency to assume that if someone's been knocked off the top, it means their best has gone, or the person who beat them is just always better. Add to that his string of losses, and, as you say, wand, it just seemed like he'd done an Anthony Pettis.

Like you said, it's difficult to see a way for Merab at this point. Sure, he was out of energy, but would that affect Yan's ability to wrestle defensively against him? Khabib might be the only wrestler I can think of that had the kind of suffocating, gruelling wrestling where energy levels might make a difference.

I hope not - Yan's a dick, and I'd like to see Merab win the trilogy. Now that I've said it, of course, go see Yan win by powerbomb or something.

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

Like you said, it's difficult to see a way for Merab at this point. Sure, he was out of energy, but would that affect Yan's ability to wrestle defensively against him? 

I flip flopped so much in that last post that you might’ve missed it but I did talk myself back around to predicting a Merab win this time. It’s partly just me thinking he might’ve been burnt out last time but also, to your second point there, this stuff about Yan having back surgery in January makes me wonder if Yan will be as effective at defending against Merab’s relentless onslaught this time. We’ll see.

The usual fight day shite. Remember it’s an early start. Prelims kick off in less than two hours!

Going with Evloev, Merab, Temirov, Volkov and Pico on the main card but I’m really not confident in any of them. 

Yan vs Merab I’ve gone into at length. I’ll go Merab by decision. Main event I was initially leaning towards Volk and I really hope he wins but I’ve let the doubts creep in this week and I’ve got a bad feeling Evloev wins on points. Can see Temirov taking a decision by grinding out Kavanagh but I hope it’s more of an action fight. And Volkov should win. He should beat Kuniev but who knows at this point? And who cares? Pico vs Keita feels like a bit of a coin flip as well but I’m feeling a Pico KO win in a wild one. Which probably means he’s getting chinned again.

Don’t wanna jinx it but I could see this being one of those main cards with mostly close fought, gruelling decisions that people are calling ‘boring’ tomorrow, whether they are actually boring or not. The opener Pico vs Keita feels like the most likely to end with a bang. But I reckon there’s a very high chance we see the top four fights all going the distance. After a few cards full of finishes, I can see there being a load of moaning about this card in the aftermath but there’s way more quality on this one. I’ll take the higher possibility of a bunch of decisions on a card of mostly well matched fights with actual stakes and top level fighters over a card full of quick finishes in meaningless regional level fights that you won’t even remember by Tuesday every time. 

[Dai]

Great main card this!

I'm going with Yan. Reading your post is the first time ive seen that Merab quote and basically giving up in R2. Never heard an elite fighter basically say that as their Plan A didnt work then they were just going to enjoy the fight. Wonder if its all bollocks though and hes just using it as a coping mechanism.

Yan wont be overwhelmed or intimidated by the Merab aura now, which I think makes him a slight favourite.

[Egg Shen]

Volkanovski the fucking GOAT, what a guy.

[Dai]

38 years old and still doing things like that, unbelievable! Schooled Evloev.

Speaking of schooled, how good was the Yan/Merab fight? Outstanding, and Yan out thought and even out classed Merab for the whole thing. Takedown attempt after takedown attempt he kept dealing with, and even when he got taken down he got straight back up easy. A masterclass in dealing with a grappler, just like before. Merab, like discussed earlier, seemingly has no plan B, so when the gas tank depleted toward the middle of the fight you felt he didnt have much chance of winning. Fairplay to Yan, yet another umbelievable performance, with the gas tabk to match it too.

Rest of the main was OK, but the top 2 were class, and were two of those fights that remind you of how good UFC can be.

[Egg Shen]

Definitely one of the fights of the year, edge of your seat stuff.

[Kfogg1991]

This main card was a perfect example of not giving rapid finishes like we've had but still delivering like they did.

Volk is the GOAT case closed he made movsar quit he knew shelling up would get it called he knew it was a unwinnable fight with someone another level from him (no disrespect there)

 

Co main was the greatest trilogy fight in history which I scored 3-2 merab giving him the first 3 which pissed me off but whatever I'm in a minority there so I'll let it be.

Kavanagh is that good isn't he that uppercut was brutal nearly took his chin home with him 

 

The volkov fight I thought was way closer than the judges gave it again. He won 2/1 but Christ he had a harder task than anyone expected in there he was tough as shit 

 

IT FINALLY HAPPENED ARRON PICO FINALLY ARRIVED IN THE UFC what unreal showing. I wanted him to win but I expected keita to do it....... never been happier to be wrong ever.

 

 

But the one fucking ridiculous thing is we are once again getting a interim title in January that is pointless and completely unnecessary. And they said it's the main event instead of a undisputed title fight with van Vs kape which I hope was a mistake 

That is vans absolute test if he wins against kape a guy I genuinely think has the ability to win and get a finish as well the lad is another breed and I don't see him being beaten by anyone else anytime soon if kape ain't the one 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, I think if there was any doubt that Volk is the Featherweight GOAT, that’s gone now. I think that debate is over. The other two in the conversation are Aldo and Holloway and, not only has Volk beat those two head-to-head (three times in the case of Holloway!), I think he’s pretty much outdone what they were able to accomplish during their great title reigns as well. And not just 145, he’s gotta rank high in the overall GOAT convo at this point as well, hasn’t he?

I remember when Jon Jones beat the shell of Stipe Miocic at MSG a couple of years ago, and in the fallout I was reading all sorts of cobblers from his fans about how Jones was “the GOAT” and “the debate is over now” and all that. No denying Jones has an all time great legacy at Light Heavyweight but I never got why his fans were crowing about the GOAT stuff after that win. I genuinely believe the version of Stipe he fought that night adds practically nothing to Jones legacy. If he wasn’t the GOAT before that night, that wasn’t the win that was gonna get him over that line. This Evloev win for Volk is kind of like if Jones would’ve taken that Aspinall fight and demolished him. Even for a hardcore Jones hater like me, I would’ve had to give him his full due for that and to beat a legit Heavyweight who was young, in form and dangerous like Aspinall would’ve been legacy boosting stuff for Jones. Volk is that guy. To go in there at 38 and, not just hand the younger, undefeated, nailed on top contender his first loss but to put him away inside two rounds, is some special stuff. I don’t think anyone was calling Volk by stoppage. I’d even convinced myself Evloev was gonna beat him. Very happy to be wrong. What a legend.

Volk with his old man there.

Not sure what’s next now. Despite how good he looked here and how great the win was, I think we all know this isn’t gonna go on much longer. Despite what he says I don’t think Volk’s gonna have many more fights. He keeps pushing to go up to 155 again and do the champ vs champ thing against Gaethje and even said “That’s something I’d retire for. If they want to give me that opportunity, win or lose I’d retire”. I don’t know. I can’t say I’m really feeling a potential Volk vs Gaethje fight but it’s what Volk wants and he’s kind of earned the right to call for something like that. It’s not like the 145 division has a bunch of obvious challengers at this moment either. I keep seeing people mention Jean Silva and I guess he would be the guy at 145 but he’s coming off a win over a Jose Delgado who was a substitute opponent. Volk reckons he could do the fight without holding up the Featherweight title picture but the main problem I’d have with Volk vs Gaethje is that it holds up the Lightweight title picture even longer. We’ve already had Gaethje sitting on the sidelines since June, with zero timetable for when he might return and he keeps hinting that he might retire. You’ve got Tsarukyan, Topuria and Pimblett all there. Throwing Volk into the mix now really muddies it even more. I don’t know. I can’t really see the UFC doing Volk vs Gaethje myself though, just because there’s a high chance that they both just retire straight after the fight and then what? One fight resulting in two titles being vacated and two divisions left in shambles. I know the UFC have never cared less about this stuff than they do right now but even by their standards today I think they’d rather avoid that if they can.

Yan vs Merab 3 was class. Incredible fight and the best of their trilogy for me. One of the best fights of the year. Like the main event, I was back and forth on who I thought would win this and I picked wrong again 😂 went with Merab on points in the end, part thinking his insane schedule last year might’ve burnt him out and also after hearing Yan had back surgery early this year. Well you wouldn’t have known he’d had back surgery watching this.

I do think burnout played a part last time for Merab and he started stronger here than in their last fight. Even knowing that Yan’s typically a slow starter, after the way the first two rounds went I thought we were in for a Merab shutout. But Yan got back in it, kept defending the takedowns and started busting him up to the body again and by the time the 5th round came I had them 2-2 but Yan had the momentum. It all came down to that last round. And I honestly can’t remember the last time a trilogy came down to the final round of the third fight. In the end, Yan just pulled ahead again and did more damage. Right man won. I wasn’t sure he could replicate that career best performance in December, especially coming off the back surgery, but he did it again.

What a trilogy. Each fight was better than the last and, like I said, everything came down to that last round. The 15th round of their series. You’d never have watched that first fight in 2023, seeing how badly Yan got dominated, and predicted he’d come back and win the trilogy 2-1. I keep seeing people say Yan “solved the puzzle” and I get what they mean. He did solve it for himself. The thing is, I’m not sure there’s another guy in the division who can do what Yan did against Merab. Who else has that combination of five round conditioning, insane takedown defence and accurate and damaging striking? Maybe someone might have one or even two of the three but I think you really need all three against Merab. Otherwise your only real chance is to just catch him with the perfect shot. The ‘puncher’s chance’. I don’t think Merab slows down in the third round against anyone else because nobody else would’ve defended about a million takedowns in the first 10 minutes like Yan did, forcing Merab to work even harder than usual. Even as great as Aldo’s defensive wrestling was, he was able to defend Merab’s takedowns but he couldn’t separate himself from him and got held against the fence over and over again. Yan was able to 1) repeatedly defend the initial takedown, 2) create separation and 3) punish Merab with strikes. And not only that, his choice of strikes being heavy on body attacks just added to his success and drained Merab’s gas tank. I know Merab’s 35 now but I genuinely think this is more of a style thing than any kind of decline. Yan’s laid a blueprint out on how to beat Merab but I don’t think anyone else can follow it. And even Yan had to go deep into the trenches and basically concede the first couple of rounds to make it work. Gotta be Song Yadong or Sean O’Malley next for Yan. Both would be rematches but still feel kind of fresh. Guessing they’ll go with Song considering they seemed to be pushing that more on the broadcast.

Lone’er Kavanagh getting the first round finish over Temirov was really impressive and a great way to bounce back from the Royval loss. Temirov was being talked about as a bit of a dark horse or boogeyman of the Flyweight division and I did think it might be a rough one for Kavanagh, especially coming off a loss. Needn’t have worried…

Sweet finish. Kavanagh’s a funny one. He always seems to lose the fights I think he’s gonna win but then looks great in fights I think he’s gonna lose. Great to watch either way though. Don’t think there’s been a dull moment yet from him since he signed with the UFC. I’d love to see him put a win streak together now, find some real consistency and eventually challenge Josh Van for the strap. With or without the belt, I think there’s a FOTY contender to be had with those two somewhere down the road. With both still in their 20s it seems inevitable they’ll cross paths sooner or later.

Volkov vs Kuniev was pretty much exactly as expected from what I saw of it. Had the show on live and I took the opportunity while this fight was on to use it as a piss break, snack grab break. Looked a bit of a plodder. I like Volkov, just don’t really enjoy his fights much these days. Still, glad he won and I did like his post-fight interview.

Aaron Pico made short work of Losene Keita in the main card opener. Think everyone expected this to end inside the distance. Seemed like the safest bet on the card for a finish. I actually felt a tad disappointed, to be honest. I was hoping for a bit more of a back and forth and a few more fireworks before it ended but whatever.

Didn’t even look like much, just landed on the sweet spot and Keita’s legs were all over the gaff. Great win for Pico this. And I liked that he mixed some wrestling in there in the short time the fight lasted before finish as well. I still don’t see him going all the way because he’s always gonna have that tunnel vision aggression which puts him in harms way and I think that’ll be his undoing again at some point. But I’ve liked what I’ve seen from him in these last couple of fights. Very vocal on the mic after as well, although I felt like the call for a Lerone Murphy rematch was a waste of time. Can’t see that happening yet. Wouldn’t mind seeing them just rebook that Pico vs Arnold Allen fight that was meant to happen on this card.

Dominick Reyes got back on track in a big way, stopping Murzakanov in a round. Solid win for him. Murzakanov’s gone from undefeated to getting chinned two fights in a row now. Tough times. And he’s already 37. Anyone catch Reyes absolutely going in on Cormier on Twitter after? Not a fan of DC’s commentary at all apparently. Seemed a bit out of the blue here, I don’t think DC said anything bad about him on this card. Must’ve been something that’s been bugging Reyes for a while. And, to be honest, his overall point wasn’t wrong. DC is arse on comms.

Yakhyaev blew through Krylov without much bother. Krylov’s not great and he’s seen better days but this was a definite step up for Yakhyaev compared to the absolute jobbers he’d been fed previously, and he still treated it like a total squash. Not sure how good he actually is but I’m interested to see how he does now as he goes up in levels.

Abus Magomedov choking Cam Rowston all the way out and hitting the Nate Diaz pose in the process is the best thing he’s done in the UFC by far…

Still don’t really rate him but at least there’s something else to talk about now besides the time he shat the bed against Strickland.

Didn’t catch much from the early prelims but did watch the Thicknesse vs Chopurov fight on the Fight Pass bit. So much for Chopurov’s hype eh? Close fight but Chopurov wasn’t nearly as impressive as I’d hoped/expected given all the stuff I’d heard and read about him going in. Still young enough to potentially bounce back but this was obviously far from the ideal debut. 

Edited Tuesday at 07:29 PM by wandshogun09

[Carbomb]

Wonder if they'll do Yan vs. O'Malley next? It's the one loss he has left that he can avenge.

[wandshogun09]

23 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Wonder if they'll do Yan vs. O'Malley next? It's the one loss he has left that he can avenge.

If you’d have asked me before Saturday, I’d have said that if Yan wins it’ll probably be Yan vs O’Malley 2. If Merab wins it’ll probably be Merab vs Song Yadong. Just because I doubt they’d have gone with Merab vs O’Malley 3. But I’m not so sure now. Song was there in attendance on Saturday, they kept showing him on camera during the Yan post-fight bit and it felt like they were pushing Song as being the next in line. Things can change and they love O’Malley. I wouldn’t be surprised if they throw him at Yan instead. Song KOing Umar really put him in the conversation but as much as I don’t like O’Malley, he did beat Song as recently as January so he’s got a good argument to be ahead of him.