’UFC Really Wanted Lopes’

Alexander Volkanovski thought he was going to defend his title against a new challenger next, but the reigning UFC featherweight champion is happy to give the promotion what it wants.

Earlier this week, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that Volkanovski’s next title defense would come against popular contender Diego Lopes at UFC 325 on Jan. 31 in Sydney, Australia. It’s a matchup that would usually get the people going, but we just saw Volkanovski defeat Lopes via unanimous decision at UFC 314 this past April. Volkanovski hasn’t competed since then while Lopes rebounded with a recent TKO victory over Jean Silva back in September (watch it HERE).

The bigger issue is that the UFC’s featherweight division is currently flush with readily-available contenders, including Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy. Both fighters are on a nine-fight win streak inside of the Octagon and are more than deserving of their first-ever UFC title shots. Even Volkanovski thought he’d be fighting one of them his next time out, but UFC had different plans.

On Friday, Volkanovski took to his YouTube channel to officially announce his rematch with Lopes at UFC 325 and comment on UFC’s decision to skip Evloev and Murphy. Check it out above/below and let us know your final thoughts!

”UFC really wanted Lopes, but at least everyone knows they’re in for a treat,” said Volkanovski.

“With Movsar and Lerone, they’re more deserving,” he added. “But are they gonna bring the fight like Lopes would? I think the fans are gonna appreciate the fight that me and Lopes are gonna have.”