Volkanovski beats Lopes to reclaim UFC featherweight title
Alexander Volkanovski is once again the king of the featherweights.
Volkanovski defeated Diego Lopes via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46) to capture the vacant 145-pound championship in the UFC 314 main event Saturday night at Kaseya Center in Miami.
Volkanovski joined Jose Aldo as the second-ever two-time featherweight champion in UFC history.
The 36-year-old Australian returned to the Octagon for the first time since dropping the title in a knockout loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 in February 2024.
Topuria made one successful defense and then relinquished the belt to move up to the lightweight division, prompting the promotion to schedule the Volkanovski-Lopes bout.
"It's good to be back," Volkanovski said in his postfight interview. "I promised my girls I would bring the belt back to them. ... A lot of people counted me out."
Volkanovski made history with Saturday's victory. He's the first fighter 35 or older to win a UFC title fight at 155 pounds or lighter, lifting the record to 1-17. Volkanovski is also the first fighter to capture an undisputed championship coming off back-to-back losses.
The main event was back and forth and earned Fight of the Night honors. Volkanovski started strong, staying busier than Lopes on the feet and stinging him with a left hand. Volkanovski closed the round with a takedown and a few punches from on top.
Volkanovski continued to control the pace of the fight in the second round, using his sharp jab to keep Lopes at bay. However, Lopes' takedown defense held up in this stanza and throughout the rest of the fight. In the final seconds of the round, Lopes caught Volkanovski with a hard right, scoring a flash knockdown. Volkanovski survived, but Lopes stole the round on two of three judges' scorecards.
Volkanovski bounced back well in the third, landing the more effective punches, but then Lopes hurt him again in the fourth. Lopes hit Volkanovski's eye with a punch and put him on the back foot for over a minute. Lopes aggressively hunted the finish, but Volkanovski held him off and eventually got his bearings back.
Volkanovski took a measured approach in the fifth round, outpointing Lopes with his jab and using footwork to stay out of danger. Lopes tried to entice Volkanovski into a fire fight in the final 20 seconds, but Volkanovski stayed calm and sealed the decision victory.
Volkanovski got his hand raised for the first time since stopping Yair Rodriguez via TKO at UFC 290 in July 2023. Many questions surrounded Volkanovski ahead of UFC 314 as he was coming off back-to-back knockout losses to Topuria and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. But Volkanovski largely returned to full form after a 14-month break from the sport.
Lopes' five-fight winning streak ended. The No. 3-ranked featherweight hadn't lost since facing Movsar Evloev in his short-notice UFC debut in May 2023.