Alexander Volkanovski swore before his UFC 333 main event against Mosvar Evloev that he still had championship skill at 38 years old, and he backed it up, taking Evloev out of the fight in fewer than two rounds. In his second featherweight reign, Volkanovski has taken on all challengers and passed every test. If he wants to continue the trend, he may have to look up at the 155-pound division — the one place where he’s struggled in his UFC career.
Down at men’s bantamweight, the top two fighters settled their rivalry at UFC 333 … or did they? Petr Yan kept the title with a hard-fought, five-round victory over Merab Dvalishvili that was exciting from bell to bell. The win gave Yan the 2-1 edge in the trilogy, and that likely will be the end of the story. But … Brett Okamoto, Jeff Wagenheim and Dre Waters give their takeaways from the two title fights and from Lone’er Kavanagh’s return to the men’s flyweight conversation.
The featherweight champ should revisit lightweight
Here’s where I’m at when it comes to Volkanovski, and I imagine many fans are in the same boat: I would watch Volkanovski fight for another decade if I could. I love his professionalism, intelligence, work ethic and game planning. His heart, his confidence, his honesty and self-awareness are all reasons Volkanovski is beloved in every corner of MMA. It will be a bittersweet day whenever he hangs up his gloves.
That said, featherweight champions are not supposed to dominate at 38 years old, and eventually — eventually — the game is going to catch up to him. And yet, he does look as good as ever. There is no reason for him to not seek the most challenging fights out there.
I don’t see a compelling reason for him to stay at featherweight. The UFC can find interesting fights for him, for sure, but none that match the level of his legacy. If he’s going to continue to take the risk of fighting the absolute best, there has to be some thought into legacy-adding matchups. And those fights for Volkanovski all now exist at lightweight.
He has suggested a “send-off” lightweight title fight against Justin Gaethje, who has also defied the odds by winning his first lightweight title at 37 in June against Ilia Topuria. At the same time, Volkanovski told ESPN last month he struggles with the idea of skipping the line at lightweight. He’s always been in favor of title challengers earning their shots, and said he would feel guilty about not doing so himself.
Whatever is next, whether it’s a title shot or not, it should be at lightweight. Volkanovski’s first attempt at lightweight gold was incredibly close but ultimately unsuccessful against Islam Makhachev. Then he suffered the first knockout loss of his UFC career in the rematch on short notice. It has always felt like that chapter was left unfinished. Now is the time to finish it. — Brett Okamoto
Bring on the tetralogy?
Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili might never again stare across the Octagon at each other, but is there any doubt that these two will be forever haunted by each other in their dreams?
After completing their trilogy with their most competitive fight of the three, they have spent 75 minutes locked in a cage with each other. Each man has experienced the mastery of the other and the humility of being mastered. Yan might have had the last word on Saturday, but Dvalishvili did not go away quietly.
The trilogy fight produced echoes of what fans had seen before when these two faced off. In the first meeting in 2023, Dvalishvili overwhelmed with 49 takedown attempts that kept Yan on the defensive and resulted in the men’s bantamweight belt changing hands. Yan seized back the title in December’s rematch by keeping the fight standing — his wheelhouse. Saturday’s fight had a little of both.
Dvalishvili showed off his fast-forward pace in the first two rounds of the rubber match, landing five takedowns and, more importantly, forcing Yan to defend and defend, leaving little opportunity for offense. Then in Round 3, Yan got his standup in gear, and he was the aggressor for the rest of the way. But unlike the first two meetings, in which each fighter produced a somewhat dominant win, this fight was up for grabs until the final horn.
Yan now leads the series 2-1, but is he clearly the better fighter? On this day, he was … by a small measure. It seems unlikely that there could be a fourth meeting, with the UFC inviting contender Song Yadong to sit cageside on Saturday, a signal that it’s time for the 135-pound division to move on.
But would I hate to see a tetralogy? Not at all. I mean, I only recently learned the word for “four-part series.” And when it comes to Yan vs. Dvalishvili, I wouldn’t hate a pentalogy (that’s a five-parter) or hexalogy (six, naturally). But maybe I’m dreaming. — Jeff Wagenheim
Welcome to title contention, Kavanagh
Kavanagh may be 2-2 in his past four Octagon appearances, but a win like his first-round TKO over fellow rising flyweight Ramazan Temirov on Saturday is exactly what he needed to remind the UFC matchmakers what caliber of fights he should be booking.
Kavanagh took the fight to Temirov, who is known for finishing opponents in the opening round. But it was Kavanagh who disposed of Temirov in the opening frame, putting his elite boxing skills on display. Kavanagh put Temirov on shaky legs, landing a clean left uppercut before following up with shots that forced the referee to call the fight at 4 minutes, 28 seconds.
“You know speed and accuracy kills,” Kavanagh said in a postfight interview backstage. “[Temirov] may be a first-round finisher, but I’ve got that first-round finish in me as well.”
Kavanagh has had an up-and-down 2026. He opened the year with the biggest win of his career, stopping former two-time men’s flyweight champion Brandon Moreno by unanimous decision. He followed that performance up with a third-round submission loss to Brandon Royval. Saturday’s win almost certainly makes the loss to Royval an afterthought for UFC matchmakers, given Kavanagh’s skill and ability to put on entertaining fights. Now he has his sights set on his first title shot.
“I know [Joshua] Van is fighting Manel Kape for the title,” Kavanagh said. I’d like to sit back, wait, see what happens there and then maybe fight the winner.”
It may seem like Kavanagh is getting ahead of himself, considering he entered UFC 333 as ESPN’s No. 7-ranked men’s flyweight. But when looking at the fighters ranked ahead of him, Kavanagh may have a legitimate case to take on the winner of Van vs. Kape. Who wouldn’t want to see Van square off with Kavanagh next if he can get past Kape at UFC 336 in January? — Dre Waters
