A major shake-up has taken place at 145 pounds.
Ilia Topuria has vacated the UFC Featherweight Championship, abruptly ending his highly successful title reign as he plans a move up to the lightweight limit.
To crown a new champion, UFC will book former titleholder Alexander Volkanovski against fast-rising Brazilian contender Diego Lopes in a fight for the vacant belt. The five-round clash is expected to headline UFC 314 from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, USA on April 12th.
The upcoming matchup offers a chance for the second-most accomplished featherweight champion in UFC history to begin a second stint on top of the division.
Volkanovski held the 145-pound title for over 1,500 days from 2019 to 2024, beating names like Max Holloway, Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez along the way. After defending his title five times—two less than the record-setting reign of Jose Aldo in the early 2010s—Volkanovski had his campaign brought to an end early last year via second-round stoppage against Topuria.
While the Australian fighter had been dominant in the weight class prior to that defeat, the Topuria loss came shortly after a pair of lightweight defeats against incumbent champ Islam Makhachev, with one of the fights ending via first-round stoppage. In total, the high-profile defeats means Volkanovski has lost three of his past four fights, a slump he has never experienced in his career.
Volkanovski now has the chance to bounce back from recent defeats and become just the second-ever two-time champ in featherweight history. However, to do so he must get past a contender who has quickly made a name for himself in the division.
Lopes has worked his way up to third place in the featherweight class over the past two years, going on a run of five consecutive wins. After scoring a trio of first-round finish victories, Lopes started to get tougher assignments last summer.
First, he got past short-notice opponent and long-time featherweight contender Dan Ige at UFC 303. Then just three months later, he came back and defeated former title challenger Brian Ortega on scorecards.
Stepping into his first-ever UFC main event appearance, Lopes will be receiving a massive jump in opponent quality later this year. While he has taken down tested vets in the class, he’ll try to get by one of the greatest featherweights of all time when he appears in April.
Spanish-Georgian fighter Topuria is walking away from a highly impressive featherweight career to chase a fight against pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev at lightweight. He’s coming off the biggest year of his career, scoring stoppage wins against both Volkanovski and Holloway to establish himself as the top 145-pound fighter.
If given a fight against Makhachev, Topuria will have the opportunity to become the 10th-ever two-division champion in UFC history.
Rising Lightweight Pimblett Meets Fan-Favorite Chandler, Pitbull Set For UFC Debut
Two other major matchups were confirmed for UFC 314 on Wednesday evening.
The co-main event of the night will see rising lightweight Paddy Pimblett appear in his first five-round UFC booking, meeting ex-Bellator champ Michael Chandler.
Pimblett has pieced together six wins since his 2021 UFC debut, albeit most victories have come against low-level talent in the division. He broke into the rankings following his last performance, stopping veteran King Green in the first round with a triangle choke.
Pimblett could move up numerous spots from his 12th-place position in the division soon when he meets seventh-ranked former title challenger Chandler.
Chandler has been unsuccessful in four of his past five fights, with most matchups seeing him face the division’s top names. His last appearance, which was awarded “Fight of the Night,” saw him not get the scorecard nod after going five rounds against Charles Oliveira, lasting longer than his 2021 appearance against the Brazilian vet.
Earlier in the night, one of Bellator’s biggest home-grown talents will step into the UFC cage for the first time.
Patricio Pitbull, the most decorated champion in Bellator history, will make his promotional debut against fifth-ranked featherweight Yair Rodriguez.
Pitbull, a fighter who picked up more than a dozen championship victories during his 32-fight, two-and-a-half-decade run in Bellator, will now try to write a UFC chapter in his career. He exited his deal with PFL/Bellator in early 2025, pleading for a release due to the promotion not giving him enough fights to stay active. His last appearance saw him extend his third reign as featherweight champ, stopping Jeremy Kennedy last March with strikes.
Rodriguez will be searching for his first victory in over two years when he appears in Miami. He has lost in a pair of massive bouts as of late, losing a title bout against Alexander Volkanovski in 2023 and getting submitted by Brian Ortega in a five-round clash just under a year ago.
Here’s an updated look at UFC 314:
Bout 12: Alexander Volkanovski (26-4) vs. Diego Lopes (26-6) (Vacant Featherweight Championship)
Bout 11: Michael Chandler (23-9) vs. Paddy Pimblett (22-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 10: Yair Rodriguez (19-5) vs. Patricio Pitbull (36-7) (Featherweight)
Bout 9: Geoff Neal (16-6) vs. Carlos Prates (21-6) (Welterweight)
Bout 8: Nikita Krylov (30-9) vs. Dominick Reyes (14-4) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 7: Dan Ige (18-9) vs. Sean Woodson (13-1-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 6: Virna Jandiroba (21-3) vs. Yan Xiaonan (19-4) (Strawweight)
Bout 5: Chase Hooper (15-3-1) vs. Jim Miller (38-18) (Lightweight)
Bout 4: Darren Elkins (29-11) vs. Julian Erosa (30-11) (Featherweight)
Bout 3: Sedriques Dumas (10-2) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (19-9) (Middleweight)
Bout 2: Sumudaerji (16-7) vs. Mitch Raposo (9-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Alberto Montes (10-1) vs. Roberto Romero (8-4-1) (Featherweight)
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