#4 in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight Rankings Alexander Volkov returns to action against a surging competitor Rizvan Kuniev on UFC 333 main card this weekend (Saturday, October 24, 2026) at Fight Island, Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“I don’t want to say the same things every fight, but he looks very similar to a lot of my opponents,” Volkov said recently. said MMA Junkie. “What I expect from him is that maybe he’ll try to beat me standing up, but then he’ll try to knock me down or take me down.”
“I don’t expect anything else from him,” Volkov continued. “He doesn’t have many weapons to surprise me. I have more technical skills.”
Volkov then took things in a much more personal direction, questioning how successful Kuniev could be without performance-enhancing drugs.
“All the success he’s had — and I don’t want to talk bad about him, I respect him as a person, the way I know him,” Volkov said. “But after he fought me, after he came to our gym and I was in class with him, he accepted the fight, so I should say the true things that I see.”
“We understood that he was removed from the PFL due to the use of steroids and performance-enhancing substances, so this was his success,” Volkov continued. “I’m not sure he can fight me without it, so I’m not worried.”
Kuniev tests for anabolic steroids were positive — drostanolone, methenolone, boldenone and 19-norandrosterone — after his 2023 win Renan Ferreira. The result was overturned as a no contest, while Kuniev received a 12-month suspension and a $9,821 fine from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
It is worth noting that no positive tests related to Kuniev have been publicly reported since that 2023 breach.
Volkov enters UFC 333 on a two-fight winning streak since his robbery loss to Cyril Gane. “Drago” has won six of his last seven appearances and remains firmly near the top of the heavyweight division.
Another win over a dangerous prospect could finally force the UFC to stop using Volkov as a gatekeeper for everyone else’s title ambitions.
Especially if Kuniev can’t prove him wrong.
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