UFC CEO Dana White made a series of major fight announcements, setting up two blockbuster pay-per-view events.
At UFC 314 on April 12 in Miami, former champion Alexander Volkanovski will return to the octagon to battle rising contender Diego Lopes for the vacant UFC featherweight title.
Ilia Topuria, who previously held the belt, is moving up to lightweight, officially vacating the title once the fight begins.
“Topuria has felt like he’s done all that he can in that division and he feels like he’s cemented his legacy and his body cannot make the weight anymore,” White explained.
Volkanovski is determined to reclaim his championship status after a knockout loss to Topuria at UFC 298.
Meanwhile, Lopes is coming in hot, riding a five-fight win streak, including a decisive victory over Brian Ortega at UFC 306.
Current top online sportsbooks have marked Volkanovski as a -138.89 chance to reclaim his belt, while Diego Lopes is sitting as a close +110 outsider.
Also featured on the UFC 314 card, Liverpool’s Paddy Pimblett (+110) faces his toughest challenge yet, taking on former lightweight title contender Michael Chandler (-133.33) in a five-round co-main event.
“Chandler is a two or three-time lightweight champ in another organization—he’s always fun—he’s fought six times in the UFC and won five bonuses,” White said, emphasizing Chandler’s history of exciting fights.
Pimblett, still undefeated in the UFC, will look to prove he belongs among the division’s elite.
The card also includes Yair Rodriguez squaring off against Bellator legend Patricio Pitbull, who makes his UFC debut.
“For those of you who don’t know, Pitbull is a former two-division champion in another organization, but recently he has publicly asked for his release, and now we get to see him compete against the best in the world,” White stated.
Rodriguez will aim to reestablish himself as a title contender by overcoming the battle-tested Brazilian.
The action continues at UFC 315 on May 10 in Montreal, with Belal Muhammad making his first welterweight title defense against Australian rising star Jack Della Maddalena Nags.bet paying +165.
Initially scheduled to face Leon Edwards in London, Della Maddalena was moved into this title opportunity after undefeated contender Shavkat Rakhmonov sustained an injury.
“We tried multiple times to put together the Belal Shavkat fight, but Rakhmonov is injured, so as soon as he’s healthy again, we’ll get him back in there and obviously he’ll probably be first in line to fight whoever wins,” White confirmed.
The co-main event at UFC 315 features Valentina Shevchenko defending her flyweight title against France’s Manon Fiorot.
Shevchenko, widely recognized as the greatest women’s flyweight of all time, reclaimed her title in a trilogy bout against Alexa Grasso. Fiorot, unbeaten in her UFC career, will attempt to make history as France’s first UFC champion.
Other matchups across these events include Gilbert Burns vs. Michael Morales at welterweight, Alexa Grasso vs. Natalia Silva in the flyweight division, and a high-stakes light heavyweight showdown between Nikita Krylov and Dominick Reyes.
