Two UFC champions are off to Abu Dhabi. Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan are set to journey to Abu Dhabi to defend their championships against Movsar Evloev and Merab Dvalishvili, respectively, both of whom are worthy contenders.
UFC announced the main and co-main events, scheduled for Oct. 24, during Saturday’s broadcast of UFC 330. The promotion returns to Abu Dhabi mere months after a UFC Fight Night headlined by Magomed Ankalaev vs. Bogdan Guskov.
Volkanovski is arguably the best featherweight fighter of all time, with wins over his counterparts in that race, Jose Aldo and Max Holloway, the latter of whom he beat three times. Volkanovski’s second title run is an opportunity to put space between him and the others. Beating Evloev arguably does more for Volkanovski than consecutive wins against Diego Lopes.
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Evloev is a phenomenal grappler, long considered to be featherweight’s most deserving contender. He guaranteed his title shot after knocking off fellow contender Lerone Murphy in a title eliminator. Already 20-0, a win over Volkanovski would be his most defining achievement.
While the featherweight G.O.A.T. sits in the red corner, the bantamweight G.O.A.T. assumes the role of challenger. The consensus late last year was that Dvalishvili had earned his status as the best bantamweight ever. He attained it by racking up 14 consecutive wins and successful title defenses against Sean O’Malley, Umar Nurmagomedov and Cory Sandhagen. Dvalishvili sought to do what no UFC champion ever had at UFC 323: successfully defend the title four times in one year.
Most expected he’d succeed against Yan, whom he thrashed two years prior. Yan had other ambitions, convincingly defeating Dvalishvili to complete one of the most remarkable career turnarounds between his two title reigns.
