Alexander Volkanovski has reclaimed the Final Combating Championship (UFC) featherweight championship after defeating Diego Lopes by unanimous choice at UFC 314 in Miami, the place United States President Donald Trump was in attendance.
Two judges scored the battle 49-46 and the third had it 48-47 because the Australian combined martial arts fighter received the title early Sunday.
Volkanovski (27-4) had efficiently defended his belt 4 instances earlier than shedding to Israel Makhachev on February 11, 2023.
“It’s good to be again,” Volkanovski stated after the win.
As for Lopes, he gave his full respect to the champion however needed the group to know this was not the top of the journey.
“It was an honour to share the Octagon with Alexander Volkanovski,” Lopes stated. “I’ll be again.”
Trump, a longtime good friend of UFC President and CEO Dana White, in addition to a fan of the game, watched from the entrance row.
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal approached Trump and shook his hand. Cupboard officers Tulsi Gabbard, Marco Rubio and Robert F Kennedy Jr additionally have been in attendance as was X proprietor and White Home adviser Elon Musk.
Volkanovski, regardless of getting minimize beneath his proper eye within the second and being floored by an overhand proper in that spherical, dominated the primary three rounds. However Lopes’s glove caught Volkanovski’s different eye within the fourth spherical after which pounced, however didn’t put him away.
That arrange the fifth spherical and, barring a knockout, Volkanovski appeared on his strategy to victory despite the fact that Lopes spent a lot of the battle verbally difficult him and alluring him to field. Theatrics on the contrary, Volkanovski was the aggressor.
Volkanovski had hoped to get one other shot at Ilia Topuria and avenge his loss from greater than a yr in the past at UFC 298. However Topuria moved as much as the light-weight division, leaving the featherweight class vacant.
In stepped Lopes, the third-ranked challenger, to tackle Volkanovski.
This was the tenth consecutive title battle for the 36-year-old top-ranked contender Volkanovski. Lopes, 30, was in his first title bout.
Volkanovski ended Lopes’s five-match successful streak.
Volkanovski had loads of causes for eager to get to work. He took an prolonged layoff after shedding in February 2024 to Topuria. Greater than that, he was coming off defeats in three of his previous 4 fights, together with shedding the 2 most up-to-date matches.
All 4 fights occurred in lower than a yr, so he was rather more rested.
Within the co-main occasion, light-weight contender Paddy Pimblett continued this rise with a technical knockout of Michael Chandler after three minutes and 7 seconds within the third spherical. Plimbett, a 30-year-old from Liverpool, United Kingdom, has received all seven of his bouts since transferring to the organisation, giving him a 23-3 file general.
“I need that world title,” Pimblett stated. “Some say I’ll by no means be champ, I’ll by no means get run, I’ll by no means be within the prime 10. However what now?”
At almost 39, Chandler has some selections to make after successful simply two of his most up-to-date seven bouts. He’s 23-10.
Featherweight Bryce Mitchell, who fought for the primary time since praising Adolf Hitler and denying the Holocaust on a podcast, was additionally on the cardboard. He later backed off his feedback, and although White closely criticised Mitchell, he didn’t self-discipline him.
Mitchell was little match for Jean Silva of their featherweight battle. Silva received by submission with a guillotine choke with a minute left within the second spherical.
