Alexander
Volkanovski believes he can beat Diego Lopes
in all aspects of their upcoming fight.
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Lopes and Volkanovski will fight for the vacant featherweight title
in the main event at UFC
314 on April 12 at the Kaseya Center in Miami. While
Volkanovski acknowledges Lopes’ skill set, he believes he can hold
his own against the Brazilian.
Although Lopes is known for his dangerous submission game,
Volkanovski won’t hesitate to engage on the ground. According to
Volkanovski, Lopes will be very uncomfortable realizing that he
can’t put his opponent away even if things are going his way.
“I think I can beat Diego everywhere,” Volkanovski said in an
interview with interview with fight gear brand Engage. “He is
dangerous. He’s gonna be dangerous everywhere, so I need to sharpen
everything. Even if I wanted to go the wrestling route, or
grappling route, I think I would dominate there anyway. Everyone
knows him for his jiu-jitsu, but trust me I ain’t worried if it
goes there. Can he handle the fact that even when things are going
his way, I ain’t quitting. I am coming back even stronger. I don’t
even think he’ll get me there but even if he does, I think he’s
still gonna absolutely hate being in these positions. Because he’s
gonna realize, ‘I can’t stop this guy.’ I’ll show the world and him
that I’m just different.”
After cleaning out almost the entire featherweight division,
Volkanovski suffered two failed lightweight title bids against
Islam
Makhachev in 2023. Many believe Volkanovski returning too soon
from his knockout loss in the rematch against Makhachev played a
role in his featherweight title loss against Ilia
Topuria at UFC 298 last year. The Australian will now be
returning to action for the first time in more than a year.
Meanwhile, Lopes has racked up five consecutive wins with three
finishes since dropping a hard-fought decision against Movsar
Evloev in his short-notice
UFC debut.