UFC President Dana White told reporters the promotion wouldn’t say no to former UFC featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski’s desire for a title shot in his home country of Australia, and that appears to be the case.
Volkanovski wanted to rematch Ilia Topuria to regain his title.
The UFC will be in Sydney on February 9 for UFC 312, but Topuria won’t be available, thus it looks like Volkanovski will be in a battle with No. 3-ranked Diego Lopes.
Australian MMA journalist Benny P reported via X on Wednesday that Volkanovski vs. Lopes is in the works for UFC 312.
Aside from a rematch with Topuria, Volkanovski vs. Lopes is the next best fight to make at featherweight. There is no indication in the report whether the fight would be for the interim title, but it would make sense, as Volkanovski said earlier this month that he wanted to fight for gold.
The UFC may also elect to make this an interim title fight because the desire is likely for Topuria to fight on his card. However, the champion has earned the right to rest and recover .
After his KO win over Max Holloway at UFC 308, the UFC likely wants Topuria’s next title defense to take place in a soccer stadium in his second home country of Spain. Volkanovski has said he would love to fight Topuria in that kind of venue.
However, he will need to beat Lopes before earning that opportunity. Lopes has been on fire and as active as anyone in the UFC over the last two years.
He is on a five-fight win streak and has fought six times since May 2023. Lopes’ only loss in the UFC came in his promotional debut against undefeated contender Movsar Evloev in May 2023.
It’s an exciting time for the featherweight division with a dominant champion in position to call his shot for his next fight. Under him, the division is going through some turnover, which could lay the foundation for new star power to emerge at 145 pounds. Evloev might be next in line for a title shot after the winner of Volkanovski-Lopes.
The undefeated Russian will take on Aljamain Sterling at UFC 310 in December. The winner of that fight will be in prime position to move into the Top 5, and with Holloway moving permanently to lightweight, his spot in the rankings will be occupied by someone else.
Yair Rodriguez has been inactive since February, when he lost via submission to Brian Ortega. Rodriguez has lost two fights in a row, so his next fight might come against someone ranked beneath him. A potential matchup for Rodriguez could be No. 7 Arnold Allen.
That fight could be a hold-your-spot-in-the-line match for Rodriguez but yet another opportunity for ascension for Allen. In previous attempts to qualify for a title shot, Allen has come up short against Holloway and Evloev.
The UFC has not officially announced any fights for the card, but it seems like a Volkanovski-Lopes bout would land in the main event spot. A major women’s bantamweight or flyweight fight could fall in the co-main event slot.
Stay tuned as we await more information on UFC 311 and 312.
