UFC 333 Star Positioned for Long-Awaited Title Fight After New UFC Rankings Update

As should be the case from a card featuring so many high-profile bouts, the results of last Saturday’s UFC 333 event produced some notable changes in the UFC rankings.

One of the most anticipated cards of the entire year, UFC 333 offered a total of 14 bouts and closed out with a pair of huge championship offerings with the featherweight and men’s bantamweight belts on the line.

After Petr Yan defended his bantamweight title in a “Fight of the Night”-winning trilogy bout with Merab Dvalishvili, Alexander Volkanovski secured one of the biggest victories of his already Hall of Fame-worthy career when he knocked out the formerly undefeated Movsar Evloev to close out the night.

Alexander Volkanovski & Petr Yan Closed Out Action-Packed UFC 333 Card

Already sitting atop their respective divisions heading into UFC 333, Volkanovski and Yan got no additional boost in the Meta AI UFC rankings following the event, as that particular rankings system does not include a pound-for-pound list.

Alexander Volkanovski reacts before fighting against Ilia Topuria during UFC 298 at Honda Center. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Several other main card fighters from UFC 333 did move up following big victories, and arguably the biggest winner of the night outside of the two defending champions was heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov.

Alexander Volkov Could Fight for Heavyweight Belt After UFC 333

Following a controversial split decision loss to Ciryl Gane, Volkov rebounded with victories over Jailton Almeida and Waldo Cortes-Acosta to set up a huge meeting with Rizvan Kuniev at UFC 333.

Ciryl Gane (red gloves) fights Alexander Volkov (blues gloves) at T-Mobile Arena. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

“Drago” was able to use his length to frustrate Kuniev over the course of three rounds, and after his third-straight win the Russian has moved up two spots to the #2 place in the Meta AI heavyweight rankings.

Alexander Volkov (red gloves) fights Alexander Romanov (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Virgin Hotel. | USA TODAY Sports

Given Volkov’s current winning run and controversial loss to Gane, the 38-year-old looks well-positioned to potentially fight for heavyweight gold next after “Bon Gamin” kicks off his undisputed title reign against Josh Hokit in the main event of UFC 334 next month.

Other Major UFC Rankings Movement After UFC 333

Although they didn’t move up quite as far as Volkov, a few other big winners from UFC 333 are also now on the cusp of UFC title fights and moved up in the rankings following the event.

Dominick Reyes (red gloves) fights Johnny Walker (blue gloves) during UFC 327 at Kaseya Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

At light heavyweight, former title challenger Dominick Reyes jumped up three spots to #4 after he knocked out Azamat Murzakanov in the night’s featured prelim and handed Murzakanov his second loss in a row.

Brandon Royval (red gloves) fights Lone'er Kavanagh (blue gloves) in a flyweight bout during UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Lone’er Kavanagh may also be only one more win away from a flyweight title fight, as the 27-year-old knocked out Razman Temirov during the UFC 333 main card and moved up one spot to #5 in the Meta AI flyweight rankings.

Patricio Pitbull (red gloves) fights Aaron Pico (blue gloves) during UFC 327 at Kaseya Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Aaron Pico also jumped four places up to #10 at featherweight after opening the UFC 333 main card with a knockout of Losene Keita, and other fighters that got major rankings bumps after the event include Grant Dawson (now #11 at lightweight), Abus Magomedov (now #9 at middleweight) and Isamin Lucindo (now #7 at strawweight).

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