B/R Staff Predictions for UFC 333 Main Card

UFC 333 is right around the corner, and it is one of the deepest cards of the year on paper, with elite talent from the bottom of the bill to the top.

The main event will see featherweight legend Alexander Volkanovski attempt to defend his belt against Movsar Evloev, who has yet to be beaten in 20 professional fights.

There will also be a title up for grabs in the co-main event, as bantamweight champ Petr Yan takes on challenger Merab Dvalishvili. It will be the third time the two bantamweight greats have met in the Octagon, after splitting their first two meetings 1-1.

The remainder of the main card will be packed with exciting contenders. That includes a flyweight fight between top-10 talents Lone'er Kavanagh and Ramazan Temirov, a heavyweight showdown between hulking Russians Alexander Volkov and Rizvan Kuniev, and a featherweight scrap between proven finishers Losene Keita and Aaron Pico.

It has the makings of a very exciting night of MMA.

Here's how the B/R combat sports team sees it all going down.

Adam Kramer: The oddsmakers essentially see this as a coin flip , which feels about right. And given their contrasting styles, this feels like one of the more unique MMA chess matches in recent memory.

That said, we know what each fighter would like to do. Volkanovski wants to strike, and he wants to rely on incredible footwork and technique to do so. Evloev wants to clinch, wrestle, and ultimately bring the fight to the ground.

Thus far, that style has worked for the challenger. He's 20-0, after all. It's not the sexiest way to win, but Evloev is a real threat, and he's showcased that against an incredible lineup of fighters over his past five fights.

Volkanovski recovered nicely after back-to-back losses with two wins, albeit both coming over Diego Lopes. Still, he's 38 years old and likely to be pushed at a frantic pace unless he can end this fight early.

This one doesn't have to be all that complicated. If they stay standing, Volk wins. If Evloev makes it ugly, he likely does enough to win by decision. I believe he'll do that, even if Volkanovski threatens throughout. What a fun matchup.

Prediction: Evloev by unanimous decision

Tom Taylor: Movsar Evloev's record is pretty darn shiny, but I suspect it will be tarnished at the hands of Alexander Volkanovski this weekend.

The champ himself has given a pretty good assessment of this matchup, I think. He believes the only way Evloev beats him is by catching him somehow, and given that the challenger has not scored a finish in 10 straight fights—on the feet or on the mat—it's very hard to see that happening.

Yes, Evloev has the wrestling and cardio to potentially win a decision, but Volkanovski was able to hang with Islam Makhachev in the grappling, and Makhachev, who is now the welterweight champ, is way bigger and way better than Evloev.

Long story short, Evloev is unlikely to show Volkanovski anything he hasn't seen before, and he doesn't have the firepower or killer instinct to surprise the champ. Volkanovski sets the terms of the fight and wins a clear decision.

Prediction: Volkanovski by unanimous decision

Lyle Fitzsimmons: If you're a UFC fan, you're probably an Alex fan. In fact, I was driving in my car yesterday, heard "Down Under" on the radio, and immediately thought of the last time I was in a building for one of his ring walks. Quite the spectacle.

Volkanovski reinvented himself – thanks to Diego Lopes – after he was splattered by Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria, but at 38 years old and with another hungry lion charging, can he keep the Aussie mojo going?

The guess here is no. I don't foresee a pretty fight or a particularly fan-friendly one. But Evloev has shown he can get top-end guys down and keep them there. That's not great news for the fans. And it'd be even worse news for Volkanovski.

Adam Kramer: Why should this fight go different than the one we saw back in December? It's a fair place to begin.

As shocking as it was, the formula to stop Dvalishvili wasn't all that complicated. Yan's takedown defense was superb in that fight, and he seemed to break his opponent even more as the night went on.

Still, Merab fought four times last year. In his fight against Yan, it showed. And for the first time in a long time, he looked gassed.

A long layoff was needed for Merab, and it should do him extraordinarily well. How he changes his game plan will be fascinating to watch, as will Yan's adjustments following such a dominant win last time they fought.

Merab, now a decent-sized underdog, will be better conditioned. And the attempts to bring this down to the mat should be different this time around. Maybe doubting Yan given everything we saw between these two less than a year ago will be a mistake, but it's one we're willing to try.

A rested Merab will prove to be a much more functional Merab.

Tom Taylor: I was very confident Merab Dvalishvili would beat Petr Yan last time they fought. I was very wrong about that, and I won't make the same mistake again.

While I consider Dvalishvili the best bantamweight of all time, Yan really seemed to figure him out last time—figure him out in a way that will be difficult to undo. He stopped takedowns, weathered Dvalishvili's non-stop aggression, and fired back with heavy artillery from bell to bell. I see no reason why he won't be able to do something similar again.

I agree that Dvalishvili will probably be well rested and better prepared this time around, but I really don't see what changes he can implement to beat the Yan that showed up when they last met.

I'm calling for a repeat of the second fight. It'll be reasonably close, but Yan will once again get the win after five fun rounds.

Lyle Fitzsimmons: Simple question. From which fight do you pull the most evidence?

The first one, when a pre-reign Dvalishvili scored 11 takedowns and nearly seven minutes of control time? Or the second, in which he was denied on all but two of his takedown tries while Yan mixed his own striking attack to the head, body, and legs?

Prediction: Dvalishvili by unanimous decision

Adam Kramer: The Kavanagh hype was upended back in July against Brandon Royval, and there's no shame in that. Royval has done that to others before and remains a matchup nightmare regardless of the opponent.

In terms of style, Temirov will be much different. Kavanagh's biggest worry here, first and foremost, should be power rather than submission. Temirov has ended four of his last five fights in the first round and two of those wins came in the first 60 seconds.

That could be an issue for Kavanagh, who has been finished in two of his last three fights.

Granted, he's a superb fighter with a significant reach advantage. Taking advantage of that reach will be critical, as it will allow him to avoid trouble.

The problem is that the power difference is enormous. And in terms of the fight outcome, it just feels like that could ultimately be the deciding factor.

Tom Taylor: This is a really hard fight to call, and it's almost impossible to feel confident about the outcome either way.

That said, I'm going to go with Lone'er Kavanagh. There's definitely a huge risk he'll be finished by Ramazan Temirov, who is both extremely aggressive and absurdly powerful for the flyweight division, but I think he is smart enough to be cautious and use his range and cardio to control the action after his opponent's initial assault.

He may never be champ, but I don't place too much stock in his loss to Brandon Royval. He's still clearly very good. Good enough, I believe, to win this fight on points.

Prediction: Kavanagh by unanimous decision

Lyle Fitzsimmons: Who imposes his will, or at least his fighting style, on the other guy?

Can Kavanagh bounce back from two losses in his last three fights – both inside the distance – or are the losses to Charles Johnson and Brandon Royval indications that he doesn't belong at the highest level?

Temirov is certainly a challenge, given that he beat Johnson and blew away former title challenger Steve Erceg, and it says here that it's too much for Kavanagh to handle.

Adam Kramer: Let's start with the height and reach advantages, which are pretty much where every fight featuring Volkov should start. At 6'7", he'll be three inches taller and have a four-inch reach advantage over Kuniev, who will do everything possible to close the distance and make this fight ugly.

It's the right plan, although Volkov could very well be up for it. In fact, it's remarkable how good he has been over his last five fights, which include four wins and one split-decision loss against Ciryl Gane.

He's fought grapplers, he's fought balanced fighters, and he's fought heavy-handed fighters like Sergei Pavlovich. Volkov's measurements and style have proven to be a challenge for just about everyone, and it feels like that will be the case once again.

Kuniev will do his best to break the rhythm, but it won't be enough.

Prediction: Volkov by unanimous decision

Tom Taylor: Outside of Tom Aspinall, whose future in the sport is very uncertain at the moment, there is no heavyweight in the UFC I'd pick to beat Volkov right now. Years after his brief reign as Bellator heavyweight champ, and after some serious inconsistency, the towering Russian has seemingly found his groove. He's beaten everyone the UFC has put in front of him in recent years, with the exception of an absolute robbery against Ciryl Gane. I can't see that changing on Saturday. Rizvan Kuniev has looked decent in the UFC, scraping by Jailton Almeida and knocking out Tyrell Fortune in his two Octagon wins, but neither of those performances was particularly mind-blowing, and neither opponent is anywhere near Volkov's level.

Volkov's experience at the highest level will carry him to victory in this one. Kuniev is unlikely to give him any new looks, which will allow him to use his range to cruise to a wide decision—maybe even a late stoppage.

Lyle Fitzsimmons: Every time I play the "yeah, sure, Volkov is tall, but (opponent name goes here) can do this, this, and this to him in spite of the size differential." And then I'm wrong.

It's been that way for five years, beyond losses to guys named Ciryl Gane and Tom Aspinall.

I appreciate how good Kuniev is and how he's only lost (by a narrow decision) once in the last 10 years. But I'm not getting fooled again. At least not the way I have been.

Adam Kramer: The whole notion that "styles make fights" might be tiring to some, although it feels appropriate here. And there's something beautiful in MMA when two fighters find enormous success through two very different routes.

For Keita, he wants to be upright. He wants to strike. He wants to end this fight early, which he has done 11 of his 17 wins. If this doesn't go to the mat, Keita has an enormous advantage.

For Pico, who will be fighting in his third UFC fight after an impressive Bellator run, wrestling will certainly be part of his strategy.

He has heavy hands, and he will use them at times. Although his strong wrestling background coupled with his opponent should make the strategy somewhat simplified here. And that wrestling and grappling should be put to use early and often.

Pico will pick his spots, avoid the big shot and that will be enough.

Tom Taylor: At his best, Aaron Pico is one of the most technically proficient and naturally gifted fighters I've ever seen. His recent win over Patricio "Pitbull" Freire was evidence of this. He looked incredible in the Octagon that night. Near perfect.

That said, I really don't like this matchup for him. On paper, he has all the tools to win—namely his elite wrestling, which we don't often see in his fights. Unfortunately, he is prone to throwing caution to the wind, which almost never works out for him, because he is one of the least durable fighters in the sport. Against a knockout artist like Keita, that could be a huge problem.

This is such a weird matchup, because if Pico fights to his potential, he should win very easily, but it's just hard to trust him to do that.

I see him starting strong, slipping into autopilot, and walking into something that puts him out. I don't want it to happen that way, but I have a feeling that's how it will go down.

Lyle Fitzsimmons: Pico is one of what seems like a bunch of recent guys who did great things at Bellator only to arrive at the UFC and fall immediately short.

His fight with Patricio Pitbull in April was a showdown of two of those guys, in fact.

But there's still a lot to like with Pico, particularly given his not-so-advanced age (30) and what seems like a favorable style matchup here.