Alexander Volkanovski reveals how Diego Lopes surprised him during UFC 314 title fight

Alexander Volkanovski is now a two-time UFC Featherweight Champion, but his win over Diego Lopes wasn’t as easy as it looked at times.

While Volkanovski was in control for most of the UFC 314 main event, Lopes was never out of the fight. He was popped by “The Great’s” jabs and calf kicks for five rounds, but he had his moments. Lopes even scored a knockdown on Volkanovski, but he couldn’t overcome the experience level of his opponent.

Volkanovski earned a unanimous decision victory over Lopes, and he isn’t afraid to admit that his latest foe surprised him.

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Volkanovski Hit by Lopes More Times Than He Envisioned

Coming off back-to-back knockout losses against Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria, many wondered how much durability Alexander Volkanovski has left. He was able to take several strikes from Lopes and stuck to his game plan anyway to ultimately win the fight. Speaking to media members during the post-fight press conference, “The Great” said he ate leather more times than he would’ve liked (via MMAFighting).

“I mean, if everything’s good, I’d probably like to go soon,” Volkanovski said. “Quicker than that, to be honest. That’s probably the second fight. So maybe it can be, if I’m good, maybe I get the fight, maybe July or September. Yeah, we can maybe fit in. Movsar [Evloev], if they want to do that, if they want to quickly go and I feel good, maybe quick turnaround with Movsar if I don’t have busted hands. We’ll see. Like I said, that was my plan. Bang, bang, bang. But I didn’t expect to get hit this much. Credit to f*cking Diego.”

Volkanovski will now look forward to what’s next. The general consensus is that Movsar Evloev is the rightful No. 1 contender at featherweight. Yair Rodriguez has been pounding the table for another title shot, and a chance to avenge his 2023 loss to Volkanovski. We’ll see what the UFC brass decides to do in the coming months.