The first high-profile title rematch of 2026 headlines UFC 325 in Sydney on Saturday. Local superstar Alexander Volkanovski, who grew up an hour-and-a-half away from Sydney, claimed the then-vacant UFC featherweight belt for a third time against Diego Lopes at UFC 314 last April. Just eight months later, Lopes is back, looking to flip the script.
Lopes and Volkanovski will meet again in a rematch that our panel of former fighters, trainers and analysts do not see eye-to-eye on. Projections are split between another Volkanovski masterclass and an early night courtesy of Lopes.
Featherweight title fight
Expert takes
Volkanovski looked good in the last matchup against Lopes. Diego needs to throw caution to the wind and be willing to get knocked out in order to land the shots that will put Volkanovski away. I don’t think he can beat Volkanovski by submission or decision, so he has to get a knockout here. He has to put himself in harm’s way to do that, and say to himself, “One of us is going down, and I hope it’s going to be you.’ Ultimately, Volkanovski will be too good and better everywhere for Lopes’ plan to work. — Dustin Poirier
Volkanovski won last time, but he wasn’t able to take Lopes down. The first fight looked pretty easy for Volkanovski, but if Lopes can keep it on the feet again, he’ll be able to string together better combinations. He’s got power that can give Volkanovski problems. Volkanovski is a gamer; he’s down to fight anybody and challenge himself. Lopes, however, is not here for a challenge, he’s looking to hurt you. I think there will be situations in this fight where he can hurt Volkanovski. Diego will put together a stream of violence that will eventually catch up to Volkanovski. — Din Thomas
Lopes is younger, stronger and faster than Volkanovski. I think he will make the necessary adjustments going into the rematch. There were a couple of times Volkanovski appeared to be close to getting knocked out in the first fight, but he willed himself back. The only difference now is that more time has passed, and Volkanovski is even older. In the first fight, it seemed that Lopes assumed he would catch Volkanovski with a big shot and put him out, and Lopes had to reset when it didn’t happen. This time, he should be more patient. I love the determination from Volkanovski, but the time between fights doesn’t help him, and it definitely doesn’t hurt Lopes. — Anthony Smith
We’ve seen in this sport that any time a young, hungry fighter suffers a high-profile loss, they come back better. That could be the case for Lopes. After he lost a short-notice fight to Movsar Evloev in 2023, we saw Lopes respond by going on a tear to get to his first title fight last year. Volkanovski also has bounced back from defeat. Following knockout losses to Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria, it appeared to be the beginning of the end. But Volkanovski took time between fights and has returned as good as ever. While Diego is dangerous, Volkanovski is aware of the risks and will have the right plan to defend his title. It will be a tougher fight, with more adversity than the first matchup, but ultimately, Volkanovski will get it done. — Michael Chiesa