The Russian suffered the first defeat in his career in the UFC championship fight
Movsar Evloev lost to UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski by technical knockout in the second round. For the Russian, this is the first defeat in mixed martial arts with 20 victories
Russian Movsar Evloev lost to Australian Alexander Volkanovski in the main fight of the UFC 333 tournament in Abu Dhabi and could not take away the championship title in the featherweight.
The match ended with the victory of Volkanovski technical knockout in the second round.
This was the first fight for each other. Before the fight, bookmakers considered their chances almost equal, but a small advantage was given to Evloev. He could become the sixth Russian to win the UFC championship belt.
From December 2019 to February 2024, Volkanovski was the owner of the featherweight belt, who then lost to Ilia Topuria, a Spanish fighter of Georgian origin. Topuria managed to hold one successful defense, but in February 2025 he vacated the title, moving to lightweight. In April last year, the Australian won the belt again.
Also in 2023, Volkanovski twice unsuccessfully tried to win the lightweight title, but both times lost to the Russian Islam Makhachev.
Volkanowski became the sole UFC record holder for the number of title fights won in the featherweight. He now has nine such wins, beating Jose Aldo (8).
The 38-year-old Volkanowski has 29 wins and four MMA losses. 32-year-old Evloev suffered his first career defeat with 20 victories.
Earlier at the tournament in Abu Dhabi, Russian fighter Petr Yan defeated Georgian Merab Dvalishvili and for the first time defended the championship title in the lightest weight.
