Four fighters with different beginnings set to take Centre Stage at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi

A former 97-kilogram rugby player, a computer programming and law graduate, a young boxer who secretly followed his brother to training, and a former construction worker all came to mixed martial arts from very different backgrounds.

What they have in common is that those paths ultimately led them to the top of the sport.

On Saturday, October 24, all four will step into the Octagon at Etihad Arena on Yas Island as UFC 333: Alexander Volkanovski vs Movsar Evloev brings two championship fights to Abu Dhabi.

UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organisation, in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), returns with featherweight champion Volkanovski defending his title against undefeated No. 1-ranked contender Evloev, while bantamweight champion Petr Yan meets former champion and No. 1-ranked contender Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event.

Behind the belts, rankings and records are four very different journeys to the top of mixed martial arts.

The main event brings together one of the most accomplished featherweights in UFC history and an undefeated challenger whose original career plans were far removed from the Octagon.

Long before Volkanovski (28-4-0) became a two-time UFC featherweight champion, “The Great” was competing in a very different sport – and at a very different size.

Standing 5-foot-6, the Australian once weighed 214 lbs (97 kg) while playing semi-professional rugby league for the Warilla Gorillas.  After experimenting with MMA between rugby seasons, he decided at 23 to commit fully to fighting.

He enters Abu Dhabi following consecutive victories over Diego Lopes, reclaiming the title at UFC 314 before successfully retaining it at UFC 325.

Standing across the Octagon will be Evloev (20-0-0), whose life could easily have taken a very different direction.

Before committing to MMA, the undefeated No. 1-ranked contender studied computer programming and law and has said he once expected to build a professional career in technology or the legal sector rather than become a fighter.

Now 20-0 following his latest victory over Lerone Murphy, Evloev arrives in Abu Dhabi with the biggest opportunity of his career: the chance to dethrone Volkanovski and become UFC featherweight champion.

The co-main event brings together two familiar rivals whose journeys to UFC gold began far away from the championship stage.

For bantamweight champion Petr Yan (20-5-0), it started with an older brother who initially refused to take him to boxing training.

Growing up in Siberia, Yan was determined to follow his brother into the sport and began secretly following him to the local boxing gym until he was eventually allowed to train himself.

Across the Octagon will be Merab Dvalishvili (21-5-0), whose road to the top involved balancing his fighting ambitions with his construction job in New York while pursuing MMA.

His breakthrough came with a spinning backfist knockout of the previously undefeated Raufeon Stots, a victory he later described as a life-changing moment as he pursued his goal of making fighting his full-time career.

That journey eventually carried Dvalishvili to the UFC bantamweight championship.

Now the two meet again. Dvalishvili won their first encounter in 2023 before Yan reversed the result with a unanimous-decision victory at UFC 323 in December 2025 to reclaim the title.

On October 24, their contrasting journeys converge in Abu Dhabi for a third time, with the UFC bantamweight championship on the line.