Ilia Topuria has vacated the UFC’s featherweight title and will move to lightweight, leading to Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes being booked for the now-vacant 145lb title in the main event of UFC 314 this April.
Weeks ago, Bo Nickal had let slip plans for Topuria vs. Volkanovski. Well, it turns out he was half right. Dana White announced the news on his Instagram Live on Wednesday.
UFC officials later announced the UFC 314 main event and several other key match-ups, following White’s own announcement.
The UFC 314 main event puts one of featherweight’s all-time greats, Volkanovski (26-4) up against one of its newer stars in Lopes (26-6). Former champ Volk is coming off back-to-back losses in title fights, first against Islam Makhachev for his lightweight crown, then against Topuria, which cost him his 145lb title.
Alexander Volkanovski first won featherweight gold in 2019, defeating Max Holloway to do so. He defended his crown four times, in two more fights with Holloway, and against Brian Ortega and The Korean Zombie. Volkanovski, 36, saw his most recent win come against Yair Rodriguez in 2023.
As for Diego Lopes, he’s blossomed into a star with victories over Ortega, Dan Ige, Sodiq Yusuff, and others. The Brazilian, who resides in Mexico, serves as former women’s flyweight champ Alexa Grasso’s jiu-jitsu coach. He’s won five straight under the UFC banner, and bypasses the undefeated 19-0 Movsar Evloev to earn his shot at gold. Evloev actually holds a win over Lopes in what was Diego’s short-notice debut in the UFC (which remains his only loss in the promotion).
To be fair, Lopes is ranked one spot above Evloev at 145lbs. Lopes sits at #3; Volkanovski is ranked #1.
UFC 314 takes place in Miami, Florida on April 12, 2025 at the Kaseya Center.
