{"id":457704,"date":"2026-02-04T11:17:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/457704\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T11:17:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:17:18","slug":"volk-keeps-ufc-world-title-with-classy-display-of-mma-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/457704\/","title":{"rendered":"Volk keeps UFC world title with classy display of MMA skills"},"content":{"rendered":"


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UFC world champion Alex Volkanovski has retained his featherweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Diego Lopes at UFC 325 in Sydney on Sunday.<\/p>\n


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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Marcus <\/p>\n


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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFebruary 04, 2026
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UFC world champion Alex Volkanovski has retained his featherweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Diego Lopes at UFC 325 in Sydney on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The bout was the main event in a stacked UFC fight night held at Sydney\u2019s Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Judges scored the 37-year-old Volkanovski 50-45, 49-46, 49-46 over the five-round fight to give the champ his title defence victory in the featherweight division (145-pound or 65.8kg). It was the second time Volk and the No.2-ranked Lopes have clashed, with the Aussie winning their first match-up, held in 2025.<\/p>\n

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Volk and Lopes weighing in; the champ with his world title belt. Photos<\/a>: Alex Volkanovski<\/a><\/p>\n

The UFC title defence caps off a huge 12 months for Illawarra\u2019s favourite son.<\/p>\n

He received the keys to Wollongong from the city\u2019s Lord Mayor, Councillor Tania Brown, during a public event at Wollongong Central in May last year, performed a song on-stage with US music star Jelly Roll at Sydney\u2019s Qudos Bank Arena in November, he\u2019s starring in a new big-screen version of the popular video game Street Fighter<\/a> due to hit cinemas later this year, and his Freestyle Fighting Gym will soon open a new premises in Shellharbour Road, Port Kembla.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s responsible for a surge in interest in mixed martial arts in the Illawarra and to mark Volk\u2019s victory, we\u2019re publishing an interview with the champ from last year.<\/p>\n

Illawarra Flame: What’s harder: prepping for a world title fight or honing your Academy Award-winning acting talents in a Kia Tasman commercial?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Volk: To be honest, I would like to say that my career, being an athlete, should come naturally, but the acting comes naturally to me as well. I really enjoy it. So, I don’t know. I\u2019m quite comfortable with acting.<\/p>\n

You’ve had younger UFC guys call you old man, and you’ve played up to it a bit. How many more years in the sport do you have left? Do you have it mapped out? Have you got a five-year plan?<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t really have it mapped out. I know that I don’t have another 10 years, but I’m still feeling good.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We definitely got a few more left in me, so we’ll see what happens, but that can change, from how I feel in the next one, in the next camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, as we always say, fighting’s easy. I came through the camps and I got through that pretty quickly \u2013 and for me to be able to get through that, it shows me I can get through [anything].\u00a0<\/p>\n

Does the lead-up and weight-cutting get easier as you get older or is it harder?<\/p>\n

The last one was the easiest one for me \u2013 I just was that a little bit more disciplined than I usually am. I work hard and I train hard and I’m going to give a hundred percent all the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I could have maybe been a little more disciplined when it come to the diet. Just check out my cooking channel<\/a> \u2013 I love food.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This time I was a lot more disciplined for the whole 16 weeks and you’ve seen it in the training and then you obviously seen it [in his April 2025 win over Lopes].\u00a0Even me working out the whole five weeks, it went so much better. I was definitely like a whole kilo lighter the whole week [leading up to the weigh-in]. But that process was just so much easier for me. <\/p>\n

So, in saying that, the weight cut is getting easier as we get older just because of maybe the hard work I do.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your walk-around weight going to be when you retire, 105kg?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maybe I’m back in the props, you know what I mean? [laughs] Front-row weight. [laughs] I used to be 97 kilograms but I don’t think I could get there anyway. Well, as you can see \u2013 again on my cooking channel \u2013 you can see how I love my food.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I guess I’ll always be training and trying to be active, and I’ve got four daughters keeping me busy.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFebruary 04, 2026
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