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Alexander Volkanovski outdueled Diego Lopes at UFC 314. | Getty/UFC
Alexander Volkanovski came away impressed with Diego Lopes following his former opponent’s performance at Noche UFC.
Lopes dispatched Jean Silva with a spinning back elbow and follow-up punches 4:48 into the second round of the UFC Fight Night 259 headliner at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday night. Though Lopes is just one bout removed from a unanimous decision loss to Volkanovski at UFC 314 this past April, it was the type of showing that could vault the Brazilian right back into title contention.
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Volkanovski acknowledged as much on his YouTube channel following the event on Saturday evening. Whether it’s Lopes or someone like Lerone Murphy, the Aussie champ is ready to take on all comers.
Volkanovski Open to Lopes Rematch
“Incredible performance from Diego. What is next? A lot of people are going to ask me who is next. I figured UFC were waiting to see what happened with Jean Silva and Diego,” Volkanovski said. “I know Lerone Murphy’s obviously one guy that’s coming off a big KO against [Aaron] Pico. I obviously said to that one, ‘See you later.’ But then we’re waiting around, so I’m guessing we’re waiting around to see what happened in this fight. I don’t know.
“Does Diego get a rematch? Crazy win like that, a wild fashion again doing what he always does. I know the UFC absolutely love him. Whether the UFC push for him, we’ll see what happens. Either way, you guys know me. Whoever it is, it is. I’ll just sit back and see what the UFC says. Obviously I just fought Diego. Does it make sense to just rematch straight away? You never know what the UFC wants. Lerone Murphy is there. Let’s see what happens, eh? I should get some information on that very soon.”
Volkanovski enjoyed a lengthy 145-pound reign before relinquishing the strap to Ilia Topuria in a second-round knockout loss at UFC 298 in February 2024. When Topuria vacated the belt to move to 155 pounds, “The Great” reclaimed championship gold with the aforementioned victory against Lopes. In addition to Murphy and Lopes, Volkanovski sees a couple other worthy opponents for the first title defense of his second reign.
“December is where we’re looking – we’ll see what happens,” Volkanovski said. “Who is it going to be? There’s Lerone Murphy, Aljamain Sterling, Diego Lopes. I think that’s the three. Obviously Movsar [Evloev]. Let’s see what happens.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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