Outside Source
Volkanovski is scheduled to defend his featherweight title in a rematch against Diego Lopes at UFC 325 on Jan. 31 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. Fans and pundits alike were surprised by the booking, considering Volkanovski beat Lopes in his last fight.
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Head trainer Joe Lopez also admits that he didn’t expect an immediate rematch between Volkanovski and Lopes. As Volkanovski had previously hinted, his coach also expected him to defend his title against Movsar Evloev or Lerone Murphy next.
Why Not Someone New?
“We thought it was gonna be either Movsar or Murphy, or the winner out of Murphy/Pico… When Murphy had that spectacular KO, we said it’s Murphy and all indications led to Murphy,” Lopez told Submission Radio. “Til Diego had his spectacular KO and everything changed… No disrespect to Diego, but I think when your last fight you beat him, and it wasn’t like a close fight, it was very one-sided. Why not give Murphy or Movsar a go?”
Volkanovski (27-4) won the vacant title with a dominant decision win over Lopes (27-7) this past April. While Evloev has long been the top contender at featherweight, a title shot has evaded him so far. Volkanovski also acknowledged Evloev as the most deserving contender and expressed interest in defending his title against the undefeated Russian. Meanwhile, undefeated Englishman Murphy emerged as a new contender by spoiling Aaron Pico’s UFC debut with a highlight-reel knockout. Volkanovski had said that Murphy likely overtook Evloev in the title queue with the win over Pico. However, things seemingly changed when Lopes returned to the win column with a knockout win over Jean Silva in September.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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