UFC 314 LIVE – Volkanovski vs. Lopes pits Alexander The Great Volkanovski vs Diego Lopes fight in Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida, United States on Apr 12, 2025.
UFC 314 info
- Event: UFC 314 – Volkanovski vs. Lopes LIVE
- Date: April 12
- Location: Kaseya Center — Miami
- Start time: 10 p.m. ET (Main card)
- How to watch: ESPN+ PPV
Alexander Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) and Diego Lopes (26-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) will face off in the main event of UFC 314 in Miami, Florida on April 12. They will compete for the vacant UFC 314 featherweight title, which Ilya Topuria vacated after moving up to lightweight.
Diego Lopes has quickly become a star in the division, riding a five-fight winning streak since losing in his UFC debut. But while many respect him, some are skeptical of his title chances — especially after watching him lose in his decision win over Dan Egg at UFC 303 last summer.
“I think (Alexander Volkanovski) can go out there and try his mix of games because a lot of people are still complaining that I can’t do cardio for five rounds,” Lopes told Habermos MMA in Spanish. “What happened in the Dan Egg fight, the slow pace I was in, people are still waiting. But that’s okay. People have their mouths, and they’re going to say whatever they want. I’m ready for the best version of Volkanovski, and I’m ready to show the best version of myself.”
Lopes was originally scheduled to fight Brian Ortega on short notice at UFC 303. In a strange turn of events, Ortega pulled out of the fight due to illness on the day of the fight, and Egg stepped up to fight Lopes at 160 pounds catch weight on an hour’s notice.
The Brazilian said he was impressed by the short notice, and he was also impressed by the fact that he was fighting 15 pounds for what he was originally willing to do. Lopes feels he redeemed himself in the next fight by dominating Ortega at UFC 306 – which is why he couldn’t care less about what the critics were saying.
“Okay. I’m not upset with them at all,” Lopez explained. “People have their own mouths, and they’re going to say whatever they want, and they don’t want to see things the way they are.
“Why doesn’t anyone talk about my knockdown of Brian Ortega in the third round and my performance in the third round? I won all three rounds and I dominated that fight. Why don’t people mention that? Why don’t they mention that one judge gave me 30-26?”
“I don’t understand it. People forget things. People have short memories. They only want to remember what they want to remember, and that’s fine. I get it. A lot of people are fans of those fighters. I’m fighting, so they’re going to say I don’t have the cardio to fight them.”
UFC 314 fight card, odds
- Alexander Volkanovski -155 vs. Diego Lopes +130, vacant lightweight title
- Paddy Pimblett -130 vs. Michael Chandler +110, lightweights
- Jean Silva vs. Bryce Mitchell, featherweights
- Yair Rodriguez vs. Patricio Pitbull, featherweights
- Geoff Neal vs. Carlos Prates, welterweights
- Dan Ige vs. Sean Woodsen, featherweights
- Nikita Krylov vs. Dominick Reyes, light heavyweights
- Yan Xiaonan vs. Virna Jandiroba, women’s strawweights
- Darren Elkins vs. Julian Erosa, featherweights
- Jim Miller vs. Chase Hooper, lightweights
- Alberto Montes vs. Roberto Romero, featherweights
- Sedriques Dumas vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk, middleweights
- Sumudaerji vs. Mitch Raposo, flyweights
- Tresean Gore vs. Marco Tulio, middleweights
- Nora Cornolle vs. Hailey Cowan, women’s bantamweights