Having been the gold standard at 145lbs for over 3 years, Alexander Volkanovski was leaning more toward a title fight on his return. Recent speculations even hinted that he might be getting what he wanted, but another development has come to the fore. Dana White appears to have a different plan for Ilia Topuria and his next title defense because he may not be butting heads against the Aussie ace in a rematch.
For the unversed, middleweight prospect Bo Nickal recently claimed that the UFC was ‘officially’ going to go with the ‘Volk’ vs Topuria rematch at UFC 314 in April. Although White hasn’t announced anything about the fight yet. But there’s been another development, where Volkanovski could be seen trying to earn his title shot.
MMA reporter Leo Guimaraes recently claimed that Dana White is ‘working’ for a big-time headliner for UFC’s Fight Event in Mexico City. Scheduled to take place in over a couple of months on March 29, the CEO is planning for Alexander Volkanovski to fight Diego Lopes in the headlining bout. Whenever UFC comes to Mexico City, the venue of choice is the 22,300-capacity Arena CDMX, but as far as the current status of that event goes, there’s not even one fight officially finalized for the card yet.
EXCLUSIVO: Alexander Volkanovski x Diego Lopes está sendo trabalhado para ocorrer em 29 de março, no UFC Cidade do México
Não foi informado se terá titulo em jogo
Falarei mais sobre no site do @superlutas em breve pic.twitter.com/3wt0Sqk0ZV
— Léo Guimaraes (@leoguimaraesmma) January 28, 2025
This may not be a bummer for Alexander Volkanovski because he also imagined a scenario where he may not get an immediate title shot on his return. So, he kept the doors open for another clash against Max Holloway, who also lost to Ilia Topuria for a no.1 contender’s matchup. But as it seems, Lopes has found his way into the title picture, and a fight between him and ‘The Great’ doesn’t sound too bad at all.
So what now for Ilia Topuria? The featherweight champ has repeatedly mentioned his issues with cutting down to 145 pounds and wishes to compete at lightweight. Well, Dana White gave a reaction to that news, and it seemed a bit ambiguous.
Dana White’s reaction to Ilia Topuria’s lightweight ambitions
After summing up the UFC calendar year with the Joaquin Buckley vs Colby Covington Fight Night headliner, Dana White got questions about Ilia Topuria’s future. The featherweight champion got people talking when he expressed his wish to fight Charles Oliveira in a bid to get a lightweight title shot. The UFC CEO responded to these statements by simply claiming, “I didn’t hear that… I don’t know.”
But then again, the question about an event in Spain was brought up, and in that matter, White showed a bit of positivity with his response. “No new news on that, but that’s what I want to do. In ’25, We wanna go to a lot of places that we haven’t been… Spain is definitely high on that list,” the 55-year-old added. So could this mean Ilia Topuria’s next fight is going to be in his home country? That remains to be seen.
When we take a look at UFC’s website, we don’t have a single clue about what the 29th March Fight Event would look like. Until then, we’ll have to wait as this development takes shape. Meanwhile, let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.
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