Alexander Volkanovski stopped Movsar Evloev in the UFC 333 main event, while Petr Yan defeated Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision in their trilogy fight.
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Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan produced the most eye-catching performances on the UFC 333 card in Abu Dhabi, pushing both fighters to the forefront of pound-for-pound discussion in CBS Sports’ rankings update.
In the main event, 38-year-old Alexander Volkanovski defeated unbeaten Movsar Evloev by stoppage in the second round, a result CBS Sports says backed up Volkanovski’s pre-fight prediction. The featherweight champion also passed Jose Aldo for the most featherweight title wins in UFC history and equalled Aldo’s mark for the most 145-pound title defenses.
CBS Sports’ update notes that Volkanovski had won three straight following back-to-back stoppage losses to Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria, and that his UFC featherweight improvement took him to 15-1 at 145 pounds.
The co-main event featured a five-round trilogy between bantamweight titleholders Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili. CBS Sports reports that Dvalishvili won the early rounds with a high-pressure pace and wrestling that produced a new UFC record of 58 total takedown attempts, but Yan rallied to take the final three rounds and won by unanimous decision.
CBS Sports says the result continued Yan’s comeback, including his earlier title return and subsequent improvement after losing his bantamweight title in 2020 and dropping three of his next four fights.
CBS Sports also included a refreshed men’s pound-for-pound top 10, with Islam Makhachev ranked No. 1 (welterweight champion), followed by Alexander Volkanovski at No. 2 (featherweight champion) and Petr Yan at No. 3 (bantamweight champion).
In the same men’s list, Joshua Van was ranked No. 4 and Sean Strickland was ranked No. 5. The update placed Merab Dvalishvili at No. 9 and Charles Oliveira at No. 10.
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