UFC history was made at UFC 314 on Saturday night as former champion Alexander Volkanovski and surging Diego Lopes battled on South Beach for the fate of the featherweight division.
Volkanovski (26-4) is the former long-time featherweight king with multiple title defenses and victories over some of the more legendary names in UFC history. Wins over Max Holloway, Jose Aldo, Brian Ortega, Yair Rodriguez, and The Korean Zombie are decorations on the walls of his title belt show room. A second run as UFC champion would cement the future hall of famer as a legitimate legend in MMA.
Lopes (26-6) has had an incredible run in the UFC after taking a short-notice bout against Movsar Evloev at UFC 288 in 2023. He lost the bout, but that kicked off a 5-fight win streak with all fights being very exciting and scoring wins over Dan Ige and Brian Ortega coming into this fight.
Regardless of who took this fight it’s safe to say the UFC featherweight will be in good hands.
Round 1 Volkanovski came out with a kicking attack going for the legs first then throwing one up high. Lopes didn’t blink. Lopes started trading kicks with Volkanovski before firing a flurry and getting into an exchange.
Volkanovski was measured, but when he attacked it was on his terms. They exchanged multiple times, but it felt like Volkanovski got the bigger shots in. Volkanovski landed a big left hook on Lopes that stunned him for a moment. Then he shot in on Lopes and clinched on the fence landing big shots.
Once he got Lopes down he took top position and went off with big ground and pound. The round ended there. Lopes found out in that first round that he was in there with a much different animal than he’s used to.
Round 2 Lopes came out putting pressure on Volkanovski which the Aussie had no issues with. Hard to surprise someone that’s seen everything. Lopes just wasn’t fighting the style that got him to the title fight, and he accepted fighting Volkanovski’s fight.
Volkanovski seemed to lull Lopes to sleep when he landed a big shot that stunned Lopes again. Volkanovski attacked and then shot in for a takedown, but couldn’t finish it.
With 10 seconds left in the round Lopes landed a nasty shot that dropped Volkanovski. The challenger fired away looking for the finish, but ran out of time.
Round 3 Volkanovski was upset in between rounds about getting dropped. He came out more careful in the third with Lopes looking like he got some confidence from that second round.
Volkanovski went back to the well getting in and out of range in between strikes, but Lopes chose to attack, stay in close, and land heavy shots. Volkanovski mixed it up landing and shooting on Lopes.
Lopes was just a couple steps behind for most of the round, but he’s still in the fight.
Round 4 Lopes egged the crowd on maybe looking for some energy from them. Volkanovski stayed on game plan landing heavy shots on Lopes. Lopes got in close, landed on Volkanovski with a big right hand, and got back to the dance.
Lopes seemed to be waiting for Volkanovski to attack first so he can have a stationary target to land on. He landed a big shot to the left eye of Volkanovski with hurt his opponent and then chased him around trying to land a kill shot.
Round 5 Lopes came out determined to put the pressure on Volkanovski, but seemed to get lulled into the former champions pace again. Lopes landed a big right hand forcing Volkanovski to get on his bike and reset.
Volkanovski’s jab was working overtime trying to keep Lopes at bay. Lopes took some chances eating big shots to land his own.
Ultimately it seems as though Lopes waited too long to bring his own style into the fight. Big moments had by him, but it was not to be for the young featherweight.
Official Result: Alexander Volkanovski def. Diego Lopes via Unanimous Decision (49-47, 49-46×2)
