Topuria Vacates Featherweight Title, Volkanovski vs. Lopes For Full Belt At UFC 314

Ilia Topuria is no longer the UFC Featherweight Champion after vacating his belt, paving the way for Alexander Volkanovski to fight Diego Lopes at UFC 314 for the full title.

The card is scheduled for April 12 at the Kaseya Center in Miami. Topuria will now move up to lightweight as he targets a fight with the champion, Islam Makhachev. Topuria won the belt after stopping Volkanovski at UFC 298. He made one successful defense by knocking out Max Holloway at UFC 308. After beating Holloway, Topuria told Volk he was worthy of a rematch. But his plans have now changed, as he has eyes on becoming a two-division champ. 

Volk has three defeats out of his last four bouts. He was stopped by Makhachev and Topuria. The latter defeat was his first KO loss at featherweight, which ended his four-year reign as champion. Lopes is in the best form of his career. He has five wins on the spin. He defeated Brian Ortega in his last fight at UFC 306 as he chases his first world title. 

In the co-main event, Paddy Pimblett takes on Michael Chandler. Pimblett had his best win in his last fight, beating his first-ranked opponent in King Greene at UFC 304. Chandler lost to Charles Oliveira in his previous fight at UFC 309. He has just two UFC wins in his career, as he tries desperately to end that streak. 

Full Card

Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes – for the vacant featherweight title
Michael Chandler vs. Paddy Pimblett
Patricio Freire vs. Yair Rodriguez
Geoff Neal vs. Carlos Prates
Nikita Krylov vs. Dominick Reyes
Dan Ige vs. Sean Woodson
Virna Jandiroba vs. Yan Xiaonan
Chase Hooper vs. Jim Miller
Alberto Montes vs. Roberto Romero
Su Mudaerji vs. Mitch Raposo
Darren Elkins vs. Julian Erosa
Sedriques Dumas vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk