Thanks to Ilia Topuria vacating the title and moving to lightweight, it was Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes facing off for the now-vacant UFC featherweight championship at UFC 314 this Saturday.
Volkanovski is the rare fighter coming off back-to-back losses to be granted a title show, though to be fair he’s a former dominant champ himself, and one of those losses came at lightweight against Islam Makhachev. As for Lopes, he’s been red-hot ever since losing his short-notice debut against Movsar Evloev a few years ago. Then known as Alexa Grasso’s jiu-jitsu coach and a longtime regional vet in MMA, Lopes has become a fan favorite, and jumped over the unbeaten Evloev to reach a title shot first.
In the co-main event of UFC 314, meanwhile, Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett meets former Bellator champ/UFC title challenger Michael Chandler in a key lightweight fight.
Weigh-ins for UFC 314 take place Friday, April 11, 2025 in Miami, Florida. Full results can be found below.
Things went according to plan at Friday’s UFC 314 official weigh-in until it came down to just two fighters: Jean Silva and Nora Cornolle. Both missed weight on their initial attempts, with a fired up Silva promising he would cut the final pound. Given how energetic he seemed, it felt very possible that he would, and just 40 minutes later, he hit the featherweight limit at 146lbs.
Cornolle was not so lucky. She looked somewhat depleted on her first attempt, then returned nearly an hour later, weighing just half a pound less. She then stepped off the scale and appeared to trim her hair a bit. Already stripped down behind the barrier, she got back on the scale and was still 137.5. Cornelle then sat on the scale for some time after, no doubt devastated with the miss.
UFC 314: Volkanovski vs. Lopes Weigh-In Results
Main card
Featherweight: Alexander Volkanovski (145) vs. Diego Lopes (145) – for the vacant UFC featherweight championship
Lightweight: Michael Chandler (156) vs. Paddy Pimblett (156)
Featherweight: Bryce Mitchell (146) vs. Jean Silva (146)*
Featherweight: Yair Rodríguez (146) vs. Patrício Pitbull (145)
Light Heavyweight: Nikita Krylov (206) vs. Dominick Reyes (206)
Preliminary card
Featherweight: Dan Ige (146) vs. Sean Woodson (146)
Women’s Strawweight: Yan Xiaonan (116) vs. Virna Jandiroba (116)
Lightweight: Jim Miller (156) vs. Chase Hooper (156)
Middleweight: Sedriques Dumas (185) vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk (186)
Early preliminary card
Featherweight: Darren Elkins (145) vs. Julian Erosa (146)
Flyweight: Su Mudaerji (126) vs. Mitch Raposo (126)
Middleweight: Tresean Gore (186) vs. Marco Tulio (186)
Women’s Bantamweight: Nora Cornolle (137.5)* vs. Hailey Cowan (136)
* Cornolle weighed in two pounds over the limit for her bantamweight fight with Hailey Cowan. She made a second attempt, at 137.5, stepped off the scale, then attempted a third after what appeared to be a slight hair trim, but was 137.5 again. She has been fined 20% of her purse; the fight will move forward
** Silva weighed in one pound over the limit for his featherweight fight with Bryce Mitchell. Allotted an extra hour, Silva successfully shed the final pound, weighing in at 146 roughly 40 minutes later
