Alexander Volkanovski has reclaimed the Final Combating Championship (UFC) featherweight championship after defeating Diego Lopes by unanimous resolution 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 blended martial arts fighter gained the title early Sunday.
Volkanovski (27-4) had efficiently defended his belt 4 occasions earlier than shedding to Israel Makhachev on February 11, 2023.
“It’s good to be again,” Volkanovski mentioned after the win.
As for Lopes, he gave his full respect to the champion however wished the gang to know this was not the top of the journey.
“It was an honour to share the Octagon with Alexander Volkanovski,” Lopes mentioned. “I’ll be again.”
Trump, a longtime pal 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 had been in attendance as was X proprietor and White Home adviser Elon Musk.
Volkanovski, regardless of getting lower 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 did not put him away.
That arrange the fifth spherical and, barring a knockout, Volkanovski appeared on his approach to victory despite the fact that Lopes spent a lot of the battle verbally difficult him and welcoming 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 profitable streak.
Volkanovski had loads of causes for desirous 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 gained all seven of his bouts since transferring to the organisation, giving him a 23-3 report total.
“I need that world title,” Pimblett mentioned. “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 profitable 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 gained by submission with a guillotine choke with a minute left within the second spherical.