Preview: UFC 314 ‘Volkanovski vs. Lopes’

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will return to Miami with UFC 314, which serves up a stacked main card full of interesting bouts on Saturday at the Kaseya Center. It’s moving night in the featherweight division. Ilia Topuria chose to vacate his title to relocate to lightweight, so former champion Alexander Volkanovski takes on surprising upstart Diego Lopes to fill the empty seat in the main event. Beyond that, Jean Silva can punch his ticket as a contender to watch against Bryce Mitchell, but the most interesting match of the bunch might involve the UFC debut of Bellator MMA great Patricio Freire, who can become an immediate threat at the top of the weight class with a win over Yair Rodriguez. Outside of the proceedings at 145 pounds, there are two other intriguing fights. Michael Chandler and Paddy Pimblett should engage in an entertaining affair that secures the victor some continued relevance at lightweight, while a light heavyweight showcase pitting Nikita Krylov against Dominick Reyes also mixes potential action with high stakes.

Now to the UFC 314 “Volkanovski vs. Lopes” preview:

UFC Featherweight Championship

Alexander Volkanovski (26-4, 13-3 UFC) vs. Diego Lopes (26-6, 5-1 UFC)

ODDS: Volkanovski (-122), Lopes (+102)

It has been about a month and a half since this fight was announced, but the new normal at 145 pounds is still taking a bit to get used to. Topuria has vacated his belt and moved to lightweight just when he seemed set to lord over the division; Volkanovski has a chance to re-establish a second act of his career; and Lopes becomes one of the most unlikely—though well-earned—title challengers in recent memory. The UFC’s featherweight title lineage exclusively consists of some of the best fighters in the history of the sport, most of whom were at the cutting edge of mixed martial arts at a technical level. In 2019, Volkanovski became a worthy member of that club. Volkanovski was easy to write off ahead of his UFC debut in 2016, as he appeared to be a one-dimensional wrestler coming out of an Australian circuit where most wrestlers had flopped on an international stage, but it quickly became apparent that he was a different level of fighter as he charged up the featherweight ranks. Still, the straight-ahead nature of Volkanovski’s game at the time slotted him as more of a contender than future champion, at least until a 2019 win over Jose Aldo earned him a title shot. Seemingly out of nowhere, Volkanovski broke out a range striking game that neutralized his fellow all-time great, earning a clear decision win and establishing him as the next challenge for Max Holloway. Their first two fights were close, but Volkanovski won both as the two operated on the highest level of the sport, then went on to establish himself as a pound-for-pound great. His win over Brian Ortega was one-sided outside of a deep guillotine choke that Volkanovski only added to his legend by escaping. He dominated Chan Sung Jung and then shut the door on the Holloway trilogy in definitive fashion, blowing out the former champion to a level that still feels somewhat impossible. That Holloway win made it clear there were no exciting challenges left for Volkanovski at 145 pounds in the short term, so he chased further legendary status by moving up to lightweight and taking on champion Islam Makhachev at the beginning of 2023. It resulted in another fight that showed just how great mixed martial arts can be, with both men holding their own in every phase until a close Makhachev decision win was announced. It seemed certain there would be a rematch down the line, even as Volkanovski took care of remaining business at featherweight, but when it eventually came, it was under just about the worst possible circumstances. Makhachev needed an opponent for a title defense on about a week and a half’s notice, and Volkanovski stepped in with almost no preparation. The hope was that if anyone could succeed in such a situation it would be Volkanovski, but instead, Makhachev ran over the then-featherweight champion in about three minutes, making the entire thing look like a terrible idea. It also might have gummed up Volkanovski’s next title defense against Topuria, itself on a moderately quick turnaround, though that’s a bit harder to parse. Volkanovski did surprisingly get knocked out but looked good up to that point, and Topuria has only further proven himself to be one of the elite fighters in the sport since. At any rate, it’s good news that Volkanovski should be rested and recharged about 14 months after the loss to Topuria, as Lopes is exactly the type of dangerous but beatable opponent where the Aussie needs to be at his sharpest.

Born in Brazil but adopted by Mexico, Lopes has had a ridiculous rise in under two years, made only more impressive by the fact that he actually lost his UFC debut. Lopes had been on the verge of a callup for years ahead of that first UFC assignment, dropping a Dana White’s Contender Series fight to Joanderson Brito in 2021 but staying successful enough otherwise to keep agitating for a spot on the UFC roster. The call finally came in 2023, but the bad news was that Lopes would be thrown into the fire against Movsar Evloev, an elite wrestler charging his way towards title contention. The fight was better than it had any right to be despite ending in a one-sided decision win for Evloev, as Lopes raised his profile in the loss by making the Russian constantly work through some aggressive submission attempts. To its credit, the UFC seized the moment when it became apparent that Lopes was capturing the fans’ imagination. He kept getting prominent spots and cashed in on those opportunities, quickly running through Gavin Tucker, Pat Sabatini and Sodiq Yusuff. Even with Lopes’ sudden fan-favorite status, he seemed to be in a familiar mold of fighter who flames out an elite level. Throughout his career, he has mostly been dependent on overwhelming his opponents with aggression early before he runs out of energy and ideas. However, those setbacks just never happened, with Lopes earning this shot off two straight decision wins. His victory over Dan Ige was an impressive effort from both men given that the Hawaiian stepped in just hours prior; and the extended beating he laid on Ortega was the most consistent performance of Lopes’ high-level career. With that said, unless Volkanovski has been completely worn down by age and experience, this figures to be where Lopes’ momentum stops. Lopes will still surely be dangerous early, but once the fight gets past those initial layers, Volkanovski simply has too many answers and adjustments for the Brazilian to coast things out like he has against his last few opponents. The former champion isn’t done yet. The pick is Volkanovski via fourth-round stoppage.

Jump To »
Volkanovski vs. Lopes
Pimblett vs. Chandler
Silva vs. Mitchell
Rodriguez vs. Freire
Krylov vs. Reyes
The Prelims