Diego Lopez, left, and Alexander Volkanovsky, right, Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Miami in a mixed martial arts battle at UFC 314. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Miami – The title fight is nothing new to Alexander Volkanovsky.
His featherweight match against Diego Lopez early Sunday was his 10th championship fight, but Volkanovsky was in a slump, losing three of his last four matches.
Read: Topuria ends Volkanovski’s reign and wins the UFC featherweight title
He left little doubt on the ropes at UFC 314, winning the unanimous decision. Two judges won a 49-46 fight, while the other was 48-47.
“I’m glad I’m back,” Volkanovsky said. “I promised the girl that I’d put the belt back. It doesn’t matter if I get it back. A lot of people counted me.”
Volkanovski (27-4) had defended the belt four times in four after he rose in weight class to defeat Israel Makhachev on February 11, 2023. Then, after regaining his featherweight title through Yair Rodriguez five months later, Volkanovski lost a back-to-back match.
Now he has a championship.
Read: Makhachev holds lightweight title and knocks out Volkanovski at UFC 294
President Donald Trump, a longtime friend and sports fan of UFC president and CEO Dana White, watched from the front row. Shaquille O’Neal approached Trump and waved. Cabinet officials Tarsi Gabbard, Marco Rubio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were also present as well as Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter) and White House adviser.
No in the joint main event. 12 lightweight candidates, Paddy Pimblett, continued the UFC rise, continuing his technical knockout of No. 7 Michael Chandler at 3:07 in the third round. Pimblett, 30, from Liverpool, England, has won all seven matches since moving to the organization, giving him a 23-3 overall record.
“I want that world title,” Pinblett said. “Some people say I’ll never be a champion, I’ll never run, I’ll never be in the top 10. But what’s it now?”
With nearly 39, Chandler makes several decisions after winning just two of his last seven matches. He’s 23-10.
Featherweight Blythe Mitchell, who praised Adolf Hitler and fought for the first time since denying the Holocaust on his podcast, was also on the card. He later retreated his comments and White criticized Mitchell badly, but he did not discipline him.
Read: UFC 290: Volkanovski Stops Rodriguez for Featherweight Belt
Mitchell had little trials on Jean Silva in their featherweight fight. Silva won by submitting with a guillotine choke with the rest of the second round of 1:08.
Volkanovski ruled the first three rounds despite being cut off under the right eye in the second and floored overhand in that round. However, Lopez’s gloves attacked after catching Volkanovsky’s other eye in the fourth round, but were unable to clean up him.
It set the fifth round and, except for a knockout, Volkanovsky appeared on the way to victory, despite Lopez having verbally challenged him for the majority of the fight and invited him to the box. On the contrary, the theatre, Volkanovsky was the attacker.
Volkanovski had hoped to win another shot at Ilia Topuria and revenge his loss at UFC 298 over a year ago.
With third-placed challenger Stepped Lopez to face 36-year-old Volkanovski from Australia. Lopez, 30, from Brazil, was his first title match.
“Maybe I’ve been lacking in technical work,” Lopez said through an interpreter. “I can see myself coming back. I have only been in this organization for two years. I think I’m going to train better. I’ll get better.”
Volkanovski is the BetMgm Sportsbook’s -160 favorite, beating Lopes (26-7), ending his five-match winning streak.
In preparing the ropes, Volkanovski said he began training camp earlier than usual and was completely committed to focusing on the training recovery process and dieting in addition to physical demand. He said this lean thing never entered the game.
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Volkanovski had many reasons to get to work. He took an extra layoff after losing to Toplia in February 2024. More than that, he has lost his most recent two matches, except for losses in three of his last four fights. All four battles occurred less than a year later, so he rested more.
