Diego Lopes dismisses notion that Alexander Volkanovski is past his prime ahead of UFC 314

Diego Lopes isn’t buying into the idea that Alexander Volkanovski’s best days are behind him.

Lopes and Volkanovski are set to collide for the vacant UFC Featherweight Championship on April 12. The title fight is scheduled to headline UFC 314 in Miami. The championship was vacated by Ilia Topuria, who now has his sights set on the lightweight division.

Going into Volkanovski vs. Lopes, many are wondering if “The Great” is past his prime following knockout losses to Islam Makhachev and Topuria. Lopes scoffs at this notion.

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Diego Lopes Says Alexander Volkanovski Isn’t Washed Up

During an interview with Danny Segura for MMAJunkie‘s “Hablemos MMA,” Diego Lopes made it clear that he’s preparing for a peak version of Alexander Volkanovski.

“I think it’s a wrong opinion by people,” Diego told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. “A lot of people are forgetting what Volkanovski has done in the division. We’re talking about him getting knocked out by Ilia, and that certainly is going to take away, but if we look at the fight outside of that, he was having the better moments with his distance, his jabs, and all that. He’s a guy that only has one loss in the division, and that was his last fight, which was a title fight. So throughout his entire career, and he’s got like 30 fights, he only has one loss at 145 pounds.

“I’m by no means looking at him past his prime because he has a ton of experience, has fought against the best in the world, and we all know what he’s capable of. I’m waiting for the best version of Volkanovski on April 12.”

Lopes is riding a five-fight winning streak. He scored the biggest win of his pro MMA career back in Sept. 2024 when he defeated Brian Ortega via unanimous decision. The Lobo Gym MMA standout is hoping to secure UFC gold for the first time in his career.

Volkanovski is hoping to prove he still has some juice left in the tank. He hasn’t scored a victory since July 2023.