UFC 333 Face-Offs: The Blonde Hair, the Flat Cap, and the Meme Storm
Event: UFC 333: Volkanovski vs. Evloev — October 24, 2026, Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi
Image credit: UFC.com
The fights are tomorrow. The internet already had its main event — the ceremonial face-offs in Abu Dhabi, where Alexander Volkanovski showed up with bleached blonde hair and Movsar Evloev showed up looking like he walked out of Peaky Blinders. The UFC's clip of the staredown pulled more than a quarter of a million likes in a single day. The comments are not about takedown defense. [1]
The face-off that broke the feed
Volk walked out first — bleached blonde, red pants, belt held high — shook hands with Evloev under Dana White's watch, and went nose-to-nose with the challenger while the cameras fired. [1] Standard staredown, except the comment section immediately forgot about the fight. "Super Saiyan Volk." "Ken." A whole side-debate about whether the hair is real, a wig, or an anime transformation. Fans noticed everything except the game plan.
Is it a Street Fighter promo?
The leading theory in the comments is that the look is tied to the Street Fighter film — Volk attended the Sydney premiere during fight week, with the UFC's own Embedded cameras catching "Hollywood Volk" in the process. [3] Nobody from his camp has said the hair is for the movie. The fans have decided anyway. Honestly? "Ken" is right there.
Evloev's Tommy Shelby era
While everyone stared at the hair, Evloev quietly won the fashion war. Flat cap, three-piece suit, calm as you like at the press conference — the comments immediately crowned him Tommy Shelby. [2] And underneath the memes, the champ was talking: in the UFC's own press-conference clip, Volkanovski calls Evloev "the toughest fight for everybody in the division, just not me," then adds he believes he can "get it done quickly in there." [2] Calm champ. Unbothered challenger. Same story as all week.
Where the numbers land
When the memes settle, the UFC's tale-of-the-tape graphic has the sober version: Volkanovski 28-4, the 38-year-old two-time champion; Evloev 20-0, the unbeaten challenger who has never finished a UFC fight and has never needed to. [4] The comments under that post are a pure prediction war — Volk's fight IQ against Evloev's pressure, over and over.
Our full stat breakdown — striking, grappling, form and the prediction — is in the Volkanovski vs. Evloev head-to-head preview, and we covered the week's other viral moments in our UFC 333 fight-week buzz roundup. The complete card is on the UFC 333 event page.
Tomorrow the hair and the flat cap go away. What is left is 25 minutes.
Sources
1. UFC (@ufc) on Instagram — UFC 333 ceremonial face-off reel (251,587 likes, posted Oct 22, 2026)
2. UFC (@ufc) on Instagram — UFC 333 press conference clip (128,740 likes, posted Oct 22, 2026)
3. MMA Junkie — UFC 333 'Embedded,' No. 1: Volkanovski shows his Hollywood side ("Hollywood Volk shows up for the Sydney premiere of Street Fighter")
4. UFC (@ufc) on Instagram — UFC 333 tale of the tape (148,555 likes, posted Oct 21, 2026)
Fight data compiled from public statistical sources (ufcstats.com) and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). OctagonStats is an independent database, not affiliated with UFC / TKO Group.