A villain from Dubai ultimately recants, surprisingly (9)
I believe the answer is:
miscreant
'a villain' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'from dubai ultimately recants surprisingly' is the wordplay.
'ultimately' indicates one should take the final letters.
'surprisingly' is an anagram indicator (a surprising ordering of the letters).
The final letters of 'from dubai' are 'mi'.
'recants' anagrammed gives 'screant'.
'mi'+'screant'='MISCREANT'
(Other definitions for miscreant that I've seen before include "Wrongdoer" , "scoundrel" , "behaving unlawfully" , "culprit" , "Wretch" .)