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Volk reclaims Title in STATEMENT win! | 04:52
History said it wouldn’t happen. No one had ever won an undisputed UFC championship after suffering back-to-back losses, while fighters 35 years or older had a 3-25 record in title fights at welterweight or below.
He was also coming off a 14-month break away from the sport. Alexander Volkanovski would say he was re-energised, refreshed for another shot at the title. His critics would say he was old, ready to give it up.
Volkanovski was willing to admit he was older. But finished? Not close.
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“Since when is one year all of a sudden he’s fallen off?” he told foxsports.com.au earlier this week.
“If people really do believe that, I need to go out there and f***ing show them. I need to go out there and win, because that’s just bulls**t.”
So, that’s exactly what old man Volk did, outlasting Diego Lopes – the new blood in the division – via unanimous decision to reclaim his featherweight throne and become a two-time champion just over a year since his loss to Ilia Topuria, which ended his 1,521-day title reign.
It is hard enough to deal with Lopes when the blitzing Brazilian is firing a flurry of punches. But with compromised vision?
Well, in a stunning turn of events, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya revealed exclusively to Main Event on Sunday that Alexander Volkanovski lost his vision in the third round of his unanimous decision victory over Lopes in the UFC 314 main event.
“Apparently he lost his sight in the third round,” Adesanya said.
“I could see why he was on his bike a lot in the third round. I don’t know what happened, whether it was blood or a knuckle or something, but f*** he still did it with one eye. What a champ.”
While the impaired vision in his left eye had Volkanovski on the defensive in the third round, he was still able to outpoint Lopes with 25 significant strikes to nine and he only stepped it up from that point to seal the win, recording the most significant strikes in the entire fight in the fourth and fifth round.
Now, a new chapter begins in the fabled career of the best to do it at 145 pounds.
While it was a unanimous decision victory for Volkanovski, the win was anything but comfortable for Volkanovski against an absolute warrior in Lopes who just kept coming at him for the entire 25 minutes.
Lopes looked the most likely to get the finish considering both the power that he put behind every punch that landed and the pure volume that was coming Volkanovski’s way in striking exchanges.
But Volkanovski consistently worked behind his jab throughout the entire fight to outclass his younger rival and also landed a series of big shots of his own.
In fact, Volkanovski landed 158 significant strikes compared to just 63 for Lopes.
If anything, it was proof of Lopes’ toughness that he was still standing by the end of the fight.
Volkanovski was landing plenty of power shots, it was just that Lopes kept walking through them as if the Terminator, determined to win UFC gold.
In the end it wasn’t to be but there was no shame for Lopes in going down to the best the featherweight division has ever seen, and if there was any doubt over it, Volkanovski changed that on Sunday.
Now the legend grows only larger. The Great becomes even greater.
‘WHAT NOW?’: UFC CULT HERO ON VERGE OF WORLD TITLE SHOT AFTER STATEMENT
It was the biggest test of his career and a chance to prove he was more than just a hype machine.
Paddy Pimblett said earlier in the week that he always thought he was going to be one of the biggest superstars in the UFC and, eventually, would win a world title.
Now the Englishman could be a few fights away from having a shot at making that dream a reality after defeating Michael Chandler via third-round TKO in the UFC 314 co-main event.
It was one of the best all-round performances of Pimblett’s career. He established his dominance early with some brutal calf kicks, although the first round was still relatively even.
The same could not be said for the second and third rounds though as Pimblett wore Chandler down and eventually got the finish with some nasty hammer fists and elbows after taking the American down.
“This is how we win, we game plan, we use out fight IQ, and we beat motherf***ers up,” Pimblett said after the fight.
“I want that world title. Laugh all you want and say I’ll never be champ, just like you said I’ll never get ranked and never be in the top ten, but what now?”
As for what’s next, Pimblett said he wanted one of the top-four ranked contenders in the lightweight division.
MAIN CARD WRAP
Yair Rodriguez defeats Patricio Pitbull
All the talk throughout the week was about Patricio Pitbull.
He arrived in the UFC with plenty of hype, having left Bellator as a four-time champion with the record for the most fights (30), wins (24), title fight wins (15) and finishes (15).
But there is a reason Yair Rodriguez was once interim champion in the UFC’s featherweight division, and on Sunday he reminded everyone that he is far from a spent force in the division, gatecrashing Pitbull’s debut to snap a two-fight losing streak.
Rodriguez was in total control for the majority of the fight and looked on the verge of getting the finish in the third round when he dropped Pitbull and unleashed the ground-and-pound.
But in the end, even if the referee didn’t step in, it was the exclamation mark on a clinical performance from Rodriguez, who claimed a unanimous decision victory (30-27 x3).
Jean Silva defeats Bryce Mitchell
In most other circumstances, this fight would’ve been a footnote. In Bryce Mitchell, you had a guy barely holding on to his top-15 ranking while Jean Silva hadn’t even hit that level in the featherweight division.
And yet, when both men made their octagon walks on Sunday morning, all eyes were glued to the screen. Not because of what it meant for the state of the division but because of what had been said throughout the week.
And Silva had plenty to say, inspiring a ‘F*** Bryce Mitchell’ chant in the crowd at the press conference and then declaring he would knock the American out at the weigh-ins even before he had officially made weight.
It was big talk, but Silva backed it up on Sunday, getting the second-round finish to improve his UFC record to 5-0.
It was a clinical performance from Silva, who landed big shots and stuffed multiple takedown attempts from Mitchell before getting the American to tap in the second round after locking in the ninja choke.
Dominick Reyes defeats Nikita Krylov
Dominick Reyes has improved his win streak in the UFC to three fights after claiming a stunning first-round knockout win over Nikita Krylov to kick off the main card in Miami. Reyes, who scored a second-round stoppage over Anthony Smith at UFC 310 in his last fight, was even quicker this time around to put an end to the bout as he dropped Krylov with a brutal counter left hand.
“I’m not back, I’m better,” Reyes declared.
“I got it done tonight, baby.
Asked who he’d like to face next, Reyes responded: “One more and then a title, let’s go.”
‘ONE OF THE WORST STOPPAGES EVER’ HEADLINES PRELIMINARY CARD
The preliminary card finished in controversial fashion as Dan Ige claimed a third-round TKO victory over Sean Woodson after what Joe Rogan described in commentary as a “terrible” stoppage.
The featured fight of the preliminary card presented a stark size mismatch with 6-foot-2 Woodson facing 5-foot-7 Ige.
Woodson effectively used his jab and kicks to keep Ige at range in the first round, although Ige was at times able to close the distance and land some nice shots, including a right hand midway through.
It was much of the same in the second round as Woodson looked to establish the range behind his jab, but an undeterred Ige kept coming forward.
Woodson landed a strong combination early in the third round as the aggressive Ige pressed to try get inside and eventually that approach produced results as a looping left hand stunned Woodson.
At this point Woodson was backed up against the cage and, in a bid to get out of trouble, shot for the takedown.
Ige was alert to it though and caught Woodson, unloading on him and getting the TKO finish despite protests from Woodson, who was less than impressed by the referee’s decision.
“That’s a bad stoppage. I do not understand that,” Rogan said in commentary.
“That’s a terrible stoppage. That was one of the worst stoppages I’ve ever seen. You’ve got to let a guy recover. He was getting hit by some short shorts while he was covering up.”
Earlier, the preliminary card kicked off in devastating fashion as Julian Erosa made easy work of Darren Elkins to claim a first-round TKO victory and make it three wins on the trot.
Elkins scored an early takedown but wasn’t able to do much with it, as was the case when he took Erosa to the ground again midway through the first round.
It was clear that if the fight stayed on the feet Erosa had the power to finish it, and even when it was on the ground he was still finding ways to hurt Elkins.
But once the fight did go back to the feet, it didn’t take long for Erosa to wobble Elkins, who looked to be in serious trouble and a series of hard shots send him stumbling to the canvas.
Elkins was no chance at that point, offering absolutely no resistance as Erosa claimed the victory.
Elsewhere, in the second bout of the preliminary card 25-year-old rising star Chase Hooper defeated veteran Jim Miller via unanimous decision to extend his win streak to five fights in a match-up of two of the UFC’s best submission artists.
Meanwhile, in a fight of top women’s strawweight contenders, it was Virna Jandiroba who came out on top as he defeated Yan Xiaonan by unanimous decision (30-27 x3).
Xiaonan entered the fight as the number one ranked contender but Jandiroba will likely assume top spot after a clinical performance where she repeatedly took her opponent to the ground, making it five wins in a row to put herself in the frame for a title shot in the near-future.
HALL OF FAMER QUESTIONS VOLKANOVSKI’S ‘DRASTIC’ MOVE
If Volkanovski joins them, it won’t be because he didn’t do enough work in the lead-up to Sunday’s fight. In fact, one UFC Hall of Famer has questioned whether he did too much.
Volkanovski is the “leanest I’ve ever been” after a strict ban on both alcohol and cheat meals during his fight camp, which has now hit the 16-week mark.
This is a very different version of Volkanovski to the one that fought Islam Makhachev on just 12 days’ notice in 2023, and that’s not just because it took place at 155 pounds.
Rather, Volkanovski also revealed he was “drinking every day” before taking that last-minute fight. This time around, Volkanovski has fully committed himself and is hoping for a different result.
Although Daniel Cormier suggested on the UFC’s official weigh-in show that it may not be the right approach.
UFC 314 ULTIMATE GUIDE: Everything you need to know ahead of Sunday’s card
START TIME: When is Alexander Volkanovski fighting for the title?
“So, my thing is this,” the Hall of Famer explained.
“When you are Alexander Volkanovski and you’ve done as much as he has done. Obviously, he knows how to become a champion.
“I always worry when a great champion or someone who’s been at the top for a long time starts making drastic changes, because then they’re searching.
“You don’t need to search, you know what it takes to become the man. Maybe clean things up a little bit, but you lost to Ilia and Islam twice.”
He has a point. Losing to two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, especially when one of the three fights was on late notice, is hardly a death knell for Volkanovski’s career.
But as for the validity of Volkanovski’s strict, new-look fight camp, both Chris Weidman and Laura Sanko didn’t share Cormier’s concerns.
“He was known as one of the greatest of all time. Then he goes on a two-fight losing streak, so you could either keep doing the same things that got you there and just take it as I had a bad night or you start changing some things,” the former UFC middleweight champion said.
“For him to go 16 weeks without any alcohol, without having one cheat meal, dialled in — that’s kind of crazy. Typically, we see guys do eight weeks and not have alcohol and eat relatively healthy, but no cheat meals is kind of crazy.”
Sanko, meanwhile, said it was more about the “mentality” than aiding the weight cutting process.
“It’s not the calories of the alcohol… lots of people drink alcohol during camp. It’s fine,” she said.
“It’s not the calories in the cheat meals. It is knowing that you have done it all and done it for an extended period of time and that’s it.”
Volkanovski’s return after 14 months away from the octagon caps off a stacked main card, which gets underway at 12pm as Nikita Krylov and Dominick Reyes face off.
The next fight pits Bryce Mitchell and Jean Silva against each other and is sure to deliver fireworks considering the verbal blows the pair have traded all week.
Should Volkanovski have his hand raised on Sunday, his next title defence may come against Patricio Pitbull if the hyped Bellator champion makes a statement against former featherweight challenger Yair Rodriguez in his UFC debut.
Finally, the co-main event sees two men with plenty to prove meet as veteran Michael Chandler looks to halt his losing skid against a potential title contender in the undefeated Paddy Pimblett.
THREE FINISHES IN ACTION-PACKED EARLY PRELIMS
The early prelims kicked off in the women’s bantamweight division as Nora Cornolle put the disappointment of missing weight behind her, securing a submission win over Hailey Cowan.
Elsewhere, Marco Tulio brought the crowd to its feet with a brutal second-round TKO victory over Tresean Gore in an early ‘Fight of the Night’ contender in Miami.
Gore landed early with a big right hand and then rocked Tulio with a hard left hook and at that point early in the first round, while the Brazilian was still staying active it was the American who had the better moments of the two.
That flipped midway through the round though as Tulio came to life, mixing in brutal body kicks with nasty combinations upstairs, eventually dropping Gore late in the first round.
There was little doubting Gore’s toughness though as he survived the initial onslaught and even fired back with an overhand right before Tulio capped off an action-packed first round with a spinning back kick to the face.
It didn’t take long for Tulio to floor Gore again, dropping the American with another nasty show before unloading elbows that would’ve ended any other fight.
Marco Tulio reacts after a TKO victory against Tresean Gore. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)Source: Getty ImagesBut Gore again was somehow able to survive, although not for long.
Eventually the damage was all too much for Gore as Tulio dropped him one final time with a brutal right hand, swarming in to inflict further pain only for the referee to step in and stop the fight.
Up next, Sumudaerji halted a three-fight losing skid as he scored a unanimous decision win (29-28 x2, 28-29) over Mitch Raposo.
Raposo was able to take Sumudaerji a number of times but ‘The Tibetan Eagle’ never really looked bothered, quite comfortably getting to his feet on every occasion while also landing strikes in the clinch after working his way back up.
All in all, Sumudaerji had the clear advantage in significant strikes (45-9) and was the far more active of the two as the flyweight veteran sealed a much-needed victory.
Rounding out the action, Michal Oleksiejczuk outclassed Sedriques Dumas to claim a first-round TKO victory.
Dumas was visibly frustrated after the referee stepped in to stop the fight as Oleksiejczuk unleashed the ground-and-pound but didn’t seem to be landing much clean.
Dumas was blocking up pretty well, although he wasn’t offering much back in return.
MAMMOTH DRAKE BET SPELLS TROUBLE FOR VOLKANOVSKI
History is already against Alexander Volkanovski in Sunday’s UFC 314 main event as the Australian faces Diego Lopes for the vacant featherweight title.
Not only has no fighter claimed an undisputed championship after back-to-back losses, but fighters 35 and older in title fights at welterweight or below hold a collective 3-25 record.
And as if that wasn’t already enough for Volkanovski to contend with, now he has the Drake curse to contend with after the rapper bet $545,000 ($A873,000) on the Australian.
Betting on three Adesanya fights alone has cost Drake an estimated $5.6 million while Jake Paul, Jorge Masvidal and Francis Ngannou are among other fighters to have fallen victim to the curse.
