Alexander Volkanovski has done it all, and his legacy is set in stone no matter what happens at UFC 333 against Movsar Evloev.
But what if he actually beats the unbeaten Evloev?
Three legends—and possibly a future one—close out Saturday’s card in Abu Dhabi, with Volkanovski defending his featherweight title against Evloev in the main event, and a trilogy bout between bantamweight champion Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili serving as the co-headliner. More than just a pair of spectacular fights, how each man performs this weekend could have a significant impact on how we tell their stories 20 years from now.
Can Volkanovski, Yan, or Dvalishvili cement themselves as the all-time kings of their divisions? Or will UFC 333 be best remembered as the beginning of the Evloev era?
MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee, Mike Heck, and Jed Meshew weigh in on the philosophical questions ahead of Saturday.
1. What does this fight mean for Alexander Volkanovski’s legacy?
Lee: It’s weird; I’ve been so locked in on Movsar Evloev getting his title shot, and finally proving he’s the best featherweight in the world, I hadn’t even considered Alexander Volkanovski beating Father Time yet again.
Because if Old Man Volk pulls this off a few weeks after turning 38 (closer to 50 in fight years), in a division where veteran fighters are rapidly devoured, in a second championship reign that few expected to happen, against an opponent who, on paper, has every tool to beat him… that’s as good as any win Jose Aldo or Max Holloway ever had, right?
There’s a chance Volkanovski wins, and the narrative coming out of UFC 333 is that Evloev was a flop, but I know I’ll be focused on celebrating Volkanovski adding another unbelievable feat to his one-of-a-kind legacy.
Heck: Dear Jed: Please forgive me.
It means Volkanovski is undeniably the greatest featherweight of all time. I’ve been one of those who has held on to José Aldo holding that spot through the Max Holloway reign, the first Volkanovski title run, and now the second. The second Volk vs. Diego Lopes booking was outright ridiculous, and the world knew it before, and they certainly knew it after. We learned nothing from the rematch at the forgettable UFC 325 event, but in my eyes, Volkanovski is neck and neck with Aldo in this conversation.
But now that Volkanovski is getting Movsar Evloev — a fight, to his credit, Volkanovski has been calling to have for two or so years — if he wins this fight, there’s nothing more he can do in my opinion. He’ll break Aldo’s UFC title fight win record, tie his UFC title defense record, and hold a head-to-head win over Aldo. Either way, the debate ends once and for all on Saturday.
Meshew: Yeah, Mike’s wrong. The debate won’t end on Saturday; the debate will only just now begin in earnest.
I’ve been explaining this for years, so I won’t rehash it, but Aldo is the 145-pound GOAT, and I don’t think it’s a real conversation right now. Aldo has more title wins, and title wins are what matter in GOAT conversations. Right now, it’s 8 to 11, and that feels clear to me. But if Volk beats Movsar, he’s up to 9, and that’s close enough for it to be a real conversation at that point.
But I still think it will be a conversation. Aldo’s 11 title wins came almost entirely consecutively (10 in a row, and then re-winning the belt after Conor McGregor), while Volk’s have come in a split. I’m still not entirely sure how to gauge that, because Aldo was the best featherweight for nearly a decade, while during some of Volk’s reign he’s been the best featherweight, because Ilia Topuria let him be. Does that matter? I honestly don’t know.
What I know for certain, though, is that if Volk wins on Saturday, it will be a remarkable accomplishment. Very, very, very few fighters ever beat the best of three generations. Great fighters beat their generation; Hall of Famers beat two generations; but only true all-time greats beat the generation before they came, their generation, and the generation after them. Beating Diego Lopes is an accomplishment (though I’m not really sure beating him the second time counts for a whole lot), but Diego was never the best non-Topuria featherweight. Movsar undeniably is. If Volk beats him, it’s a historic win, and if you want to call him the GOAT, I won’t argue the point.
2. Is the Yan vs. Dvalishvili 3 winner the bantamweight GOAT?
Lee: Yes.
I get it, the case for Petr Yan is kind of weird because of that three-fight losing streak he had that was capped off by a convincing loss to Merab Dvalishvili in their first meeting. But the other losses during that stretch were his split-decision loss in the Aljamain Sterling rematch and a split-decision loss to Sean O’Malley. I think those are both justifiable results, but Yan was hardly overwhelmed in either encounter. And his wins? The dude is a frigging Terminator at his peak, which includes his most recent outing against Dvalishvili.
As for Dvalishvili, it felt like he would have locked in to GOAT status if he had beaten Yan in December, right? Nothing changes for me. Win the series, you’re the best. Done and done.
Heck: Now this is a super hard question. There’s absolutely a case to be made on both sides, and the stakes of this fight 100 percent include this topic. In the end, I’ll say no, but it’s super close.
I still believe Dominick Cruz is the greatest bantamweight of all-time. The injuries the man suffered obviously make things pretty weird, but his résumé holds the top spot, and even the winner of this fight doesn’t fully eclipse it.
I’ll gladly revisit when the fight is over, especially if Yan performs anywhere near the way he did in December, or Dvalishvili if he makes this non-competitive as they did in their first fight.
Meshew: No, obviously not. I really, really wish we could stop this. Stop burying the accomplishments of previous generations for no reason.
I don’t even like Dominick Cruz, but he’s the bantamweight GOAT. He has 7 title wins, with another win tucked in there over Takeya Mizugaki when he came back but had vacated the title due to injury. If Yan wins, he’ll have 3. Merab will have 5. If Merab wins, that’s close enough to have the conversation, but Yan is a ways off.
We do this all the time, and I’m so tired of it, because it’s such a prisoner-of-the-moment thing. Last year, all the talk was about whether Merab was the GOAT, and then he lost, and we all abandoned it. If Yan wins this fight and one more, people will call him the GOAT, and then if he loses to Payton Talbott, they’ll all forget again. And god forbid either of them end up fighting well after their primes and start racking up losses, then they’ll be completely disregarded, no matter their achievements.
I know that people hate this, and many will disagree, but greatness is not about head-to-head or who is the “best”; it’s a measure of accomplishment. Cruz has accomplished more than any other bantamweight. One day, someone will catch him — maybe one of these guys — but it hasn’t happened yet.
3. What’s the best non-title matchup on this card?
Lee: I’m going with a deep cut here, because I am just so fascinated by Kody Steele.
Steele transitioned to MMA in 2022 with some impressive grappling credentials, so it should surprise no one that he has become the heir apparent to Jorge Gurgel in regards to being a heavily hyped jiu-jitsu guy that cannot stop standing and banging. He smoked some dudes on the feet before making his UFC debut last year and, of course, promptly lost a stand-up battle against Rongzhu that earned Fight of the Night.
But then he showed his grappling skills by heel hooking Dom Mar Fan, so I don’t know what to make of him! That’s why his fight with Noah Gugnon has me so intrigued. Will he remember that he can tie the majority of the lightweight roster in knots, or will the intrusive thoughts win again? Either way, a good time will be had.
Heck: The difference between this UFC 333 card and UFC 332 is that there are A LOT of options. Up and down the card, there’s fun and up-and-coming fighters facing one another in stakes and storyline-filled matchups. Heck, the opening fight between Noah Gugnon and Kody Steele has Fight of the Night potential.
But I’m low-hanging-fruiting this: It’s Aaron Pico vs. Losene Keita. It’s a huge opportunity for Keita, certainly, but a loss drops him to 1-2 in the promotion, so while he’s playing with more house money than not, Keita has something riding on this fight.
For Pico, this is everything. A true must-win fight. At 30 years of age, all the potential in the world, a wild PFLator run that saw a lot of ups, and some big time downs, a UFC debut that will see him in the Baba O’Reilly pre-main card package for years to come, and a bounce back win over a fighter who is serviceable, has a great résumé. But quite clearly on the back nine, in terms of rankings, this is a big step back in opposition for his UFC run, but you can make a case that Keita is the second- or third-toughest opponent Pico’s ever faced. So fascinating, and the perfect main card opener on a stellar card.
Meshew: Fine, I’ll take the low-hanging fruit that is the feature bout of the evening: Lone’er Kavanagh vs. Ramazan Temirov.
Kavanagh is still a young man at 27, and it looked like he was primed to make a legitimate title push after beating Brandon Moreno in February, but then he got pretty cooked by Brandon Royval in July, and once again raised questions about what his ceiling is. The young man is clearly talented, but he also seems mercurial, and that doesn’t usually portend a title.
Then there’s Temirov, who is on a 12-fight win streak and coming off a nasty knockout of Steve Erceg in July. Under normal circumstances, Temirov would have significantly more hype, but because he also got popped for a failed drug test, the public isn’t all in on him yet.
This fight is an opportunity for both men to put to bed some of the concerns about their title aspirations and prove that they’re legitimate threats to the belt in the suddenly electric 125-pound weight class. Should be fun.