Pros React To Volkanovski Becoming Champ – ‘Volk Is Back’

April 14, 2025

2 weeks

Pros React To Volkanovski Becoming Champ - 'Volk Is Back'

Alexander Volkanovski defeated Diego Lopes at UFC 314 by a unanimous decision to reclaim his featherweight belt: 49-46, 49-46, and 48-47.

The win ended Volkanovski’s recent poor record, where he only secured one win in four fights. He bounced back from his loss against Ilia Topuria in his last fight at UFC 298, where he lost his belt. However, Topuria’s decision to move up to lightweight meant the belt became vacant, giving Volk a chance to bounce back. The fight showed Volk was back to his best. He rocked Lopes in the opening round with a left hand. The champ also overcame some adversity in the second round, where Lopes dropped him with a right hand. Once that period was over, Volk stayed largely in control. The fight statistics proved that.

Volkanovski landed 158 out of 259 significant strikes. This was an impressive 61% accuracy rate. Lopes, meanwhile, was far less successful. He connected with 63 out of 259 strikes, which amounted to a 32% conversion rate. Volkanovski also landed 165 out of 266 total strikes. His takedown attempts were not the best, but he did land one out of 11 attempts: 9 percent.

Meanwhile, Lopes did not find any success with takedowns, submissions, or reversals. Volkanovski landed 86% of his shots upstairs, while 5% went to the body and 8% to the legs. The champion finished the fight stronger, with 43 out of 61 strikes landed in the last round, which was 70%. In contrast, Lopes connected with only 14 of 59 (23%). MMA pros had plenty of positive words to say about Volk’s performance.

Reaction

“It’s good to be back. I’ve never felt the love so much. I was saying all week, I said I promised my girls I would bring the belt back to them. I think the message was a lot of people counted me out, coming off two knocked out losses. Come back and beat a gun like Diego Lopes. It’s good to be back. Adversity is a privilege. This moment is incredible. This is shit people are going to write books about. There’s going to be movies. That type of s**t. That’s what it’s all about,” Volkanovski said