This Saturday Buckley vs Malott · Rogers Place Edmonton AB Canada See this week's picks →
Picks · Volkanovski vs Evloev ·

Alexander Volkov vs Rizvan Kuniev prediction

Heavyweight · Volkanovski vs Evloev · 24 Oct 2026
UFC 14-5 · Pro 40-11
VS
UFC 2-1 · Pro 14-3-1

Prediction

early read
Alexander Volkov 60%
60%40%
as of 11 Oct 2026, 09:03 UTC

By the numbers

  • Age

    Kuniev is 3 years younger. With an age gap of 2 to 3 years, the younger fighter wins 57% of UFC fights (1,252 of 2,209 fights).

History leans Kuniev on 1 of these; our early read still favours Volkov.

Counted from every UFC fight on record before this bout. These are history, not our model’s read.

Tale of the tape

The facts, side by side — Alexander Volkov vs Rizvan Kuniev.

Red corner AlexanderVolkov“Drago”Strela Team · Born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union · Fights out of Moscow, Russia
VSUpcoming
Blue corner RizvanKunievGorets Fight Club · Born in Dagestan, Russia · Fights out of Makhachkala, Russia
HeavyweightPicks published · graded in public after the card
The story
  • Comes in on a 2-fight win streak.
  • Comes in on a 2-fight win streak.
  • Has finished 7 of 14 UFC wins.
  • Carries 25 points more takedown defence than Volkov.
40-11
Record
14-3-1
37
Age
−3 yr34
+3″6' 7"
Height
6' 4"
+4″80″
Reach
76″
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
+1619
UFC bouts
3
7/1450% of wins
Finishes
1/250% of wins
Strela Team
Gym
Gorets Fight Club
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Born in
Dagestan, Russia
Moscow, Russia
Fights out of
Makhachkala, Russia
Vitals, record, nickname and camp come from the public UFC fighter register and are current, not a snapshot of fight night. UFC bouts, finish rate and every storyline line are counted off the official UFC fight record. A tick marks the side holding the raw edge in that row — longer reach, taller, younger, more bouts, a higher finish rate. It is a fact about the tape, not a prediction, and rows with no clean comparison (record, stance, gym, hometown) carry no tick at all. Any row we cannot fill on both sides is left out rather than half-drawn. Where a fighter was born and where they fight out of come from their Wikipedia entry; where we hold neither, the hometown shown is Sherdog’s.
All the vitals, as a table
UFC 14-5UFC recordUFC 2-1
40-11Pro record14-3-1
DragoNickname—
6' 7"Height6' 4"
80"Reach76"
OrthodoxStanceOrthodox
37Age34
250 lbs.Weight240 lbs.
RussiaNationalityRussia
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet UnionBorn inDagestan, Russia
Moscow, RussiaFights out ofMakhachkala, Russia
Strela TeamCampGorets Fight Club
Vitals and record from public UFC statistics; nickname, nationality and camp from the public fighter register. Where a fighter was born and where they fight out of come from their Wikipedia entry; where we hold neither, the hometown shown is Sherdog’s. The UFC record is counted from the official results themselves.

FightIQ Metrics

Our read — not official stats. Six 0–100 scores, each a percentile rank against the fighter’s own weight class (the full roster where a division is too thin to rank in). The better score on each row is highlighted in that fighter's corner colour.

Alexander VolkovRizvan Kuniev
84
Striking
79
68
Defence
65
33
Grappling / TD
54
38
Cardio
53
84
Chin
79 limited sample
61
Fight IQ
66
Our read — derived, not official stats. Ranked within weight class.

Strike zones

Strike zones

Where they go — head to head

Career UFC significant strikes by target zone. Red corner left, blue corner right.

Alexander Volkov19 UFC fights · 1,250 landed

58.7%
HEAD
74.7%
21.5%
BODY
22.7%
19.8%
LEGS
2.6%

Rizvan Kuniev3 UFC fights · 154 landed

Significant strikes only, as recorded by UFCStats, across the fighter's whole UFC career. Shares are raw counts — nothing here is modelled or smoothed. Accuracy is landed ÷ attempted and comes from the per-round tape, which covers slightly fewer fights than the totals do. “Field” is the average fighter in that weight class, or across every division where a class is too small to average.

Takedowns

Takedowns

The level change — head to head

Career UFC takedown rates. Red corner left, blue corner right.

Alexander Volkov

0.54takedowns / 15 min
0.54 / 15m
TAKEDOWNS
0.79 / 15m
0.87 / 15m
ATTEMPTS
1.05 / 15m
62%
ACCURACY
75%
0.20 / 15m
SUB ATT
0.00 / 15m

Rizvan Kuniev

0.79takedowns / 15 min

Career UFC takedown rates exactly as UFCStats publishes them: takedowns landed per 15 minutes, completion rate, submission attempts per 15 minutes, and the share of takedowns tried on them that they stuffed. Attempts per 15 is the one derived figure — landed ÷ completion rate — and it is omitted wherever either input is missing. UFCStats writes 0% where no attempt was recorded at all, so a percentage of exactly zero reads “n/a” here rather than as a measured rate. “Field” is the average fighter in that weight class, or across every division where a class is too small to average. Rate bars run to the population’s 95th percentile (6.29 takedowns / 15m); a fighter above it pins the bar. Percentages are drawn on their own axis.

Ranked in Heavyweight

Stats comparison

Alexander Volkov (left) vs Rizvan Kuniev (right) — career striking & grappling rates.

Strikes landed / min
4.84
vs
4.32
Striking accuracy
57%
vs
54%
Strikes absorbed / min
2.9
vs
2.22
Striking defence
54%
vs
49%
Takedowns / 15 min
0.54
vs
0.79
Takedown accuracy
62%
vs
75%
Takedown defence
68%
vs
93%
Sub attempts / 15 min
0.2
vs
0
Career averages from public UFC statistics.

Bios

Who these two are — reported newsroom prose where we have it, our own data-built profile where we don’t. Each is labelled.

Alexander VolkovFightIQ profileKnockout puncher

6' 7" orthodox knockout puncher campaigning at Heavyweight. 14 UFC wins — 6 KO/TKO, 1 submission, 7 decision.

Built from Alexander Volkov’s own fight record and striking and grappling figures, recomputed for this build. Full profile →
Rizvan KunievFightIQ profileAll-rounder

6' 4" orthodox all-rounder campaigning at Heavyweight. 2 UFC wins — 1 KO/TKO, 1 decision.

Built from Rizvan Kuniev’s own fight record and striking and grappling figures, recomputed for this build. Full profile →

Go deeper

Elsewhere on the card

← Back to the picks