Both title fights at UFC 333 made weight Friday in Abu Dhabi, a day before the card at Etihad Arena, and only one of 29 fighters on the card missed the number set for the bout.
Both Champions Make Weight
Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski weighed 144.5 pounds (65.5 kg) to defend his belt against Movsar Evloev, who came in at 145 pounds (65.8 kg). Volkanovski, 28-4, lost by head-kick knockout to Islam Makhachev at UFC 294, also in Abu Dhabi, in October 2023, then lost the title by knockout four months later to Ilia Topuria. He took 14 months off, won the vacant belt back, and has defended it once, with his two wins over Diego Lopes both going the full five rounds. Evloev, undefeated at 20-0 with a 10-0 UFC record, earned this shot with a contentious win over Lerone Murphy in March at London’s O2 Arena, where he was docked a point in round four for an illegal groin strike before a split decision went his way.
Bantamweight champion Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili both weighed 135 pounds (61.2 kg) for their third meeting. Yan, 20-5, beat Dvalishvili by decision in their last fight in December, at the final numbered card of the year in Las Vegas, ending a reign in which Dvalishvili had made three successful title defenses, including a lopsided win over Cory Sandhagen that set the UFC record for most takedowns landed in a single fight. Dvalishvili, 21-5, is looking to win the belt back. Yan, who has also held an interim bantamweight title during his career, has now fought in Abu Dhabi four times, winning three of those bouts.
Nicolle Caliari Misses, Fined 30 Percent
The one fighter to miss weight was Brazil’s Nicolle Caliari, who weighed 120.5 pounds (54.7 kg), 4.5 pounds (2 kg) over the 116-pound non-title strawweight limit for her bout against Iasmin Lucindo, who weighed 115 pounds (52.2 kg). Caliari forfeits 30 percent of her purse, and the fight stays on the card at a catchweight agreed by both camps.
The Rest of the Abu Dhabi Card
The main card also features Lone’er Kavanagh (125.5 pounds) against Ramazan Temirov (126 pounds), and Rizvan Kuniev (265 pounds) against Alexander Volkov (256 pounds). Losene Keita (146 pounds), who stepped in after Arnold Allen withdrew, faces Aaron Pico (145.5 pounds, 14-5 with nine of his wins by knockout or TKO), a longtime Bellator fighter who signed with the UFC last year and is still looking to make his mark in the deeper featherweight division.
In the light heavyweight division, American Dominick Reyes (205 pounds), the division’s No. 8 contender, meets Azamat Murzakanov (206 pounds), ranked No. 7, with each man 4-1 in his last five fights. Reyes is coming off a split-decision win over Johnny Walker in April, while Murzakanov had been unbeaten in the UFC before a head-kick knockout loss to Paulo Costa that same month. It is a rare meeting of consecutively ranked contenders this deep into the light heavyweight top 10. Elsewhere on the preliminary card, No. 15 contender Nikita Krylov takes on undefeated Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev, whose last five wins have all come in the first round, the most recent in eight seconds this past July. Krylov is coming back from a jaw fracture suffered in a third-round stoppage loss to Robert Whittaker in July.
At lightweight, American Grant Dawson (156 pounds, 24-3-1) faces undefeated Nurullo Aliev (155 pounds, 12-0), and American Kody Steele (156 pounds) meets Noah Gugnon (156 pounds). Abus Magomedov and Jacob Malkoun round out Friday’s weigh-in.
Fight Time and How to Watch
Fight time is 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) for the main card on Paramount+, with the main portion of the preliminaries at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) and early prelims at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT). That puts the main card at 7 p.m. in the United Kingdom and 8 p.m. in Central Europe. Etihad Arena was ranked the No. 3 UFC venue in the world in USA Today Sports’ 2026 reader poll, cited for its atmosphere and fan experience, and has already hosted UFC 257, 267, 280, 294, 308 and 321 since 2021. Early prelims, prelims and the main card are all carried on Paramount+ for the full event. The full 2026 UFC schedule, including upcoming American dates, is available on our schedule and rankings pages.
