{"id":407097,"date":"2026-01-13T20:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/407097\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T20:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T20:21:07","slug":"volkanovski-not-worried-about-lopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/407097\/","title":{"rendered":"Volkanovski Not Worried About Lopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC 325 Preview<\/p>\n

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski<\/a> is confident that we will overcome Diego Lopes<\/a> when they face each other at UFC 325 in Sydney on January 31.<\/p>\n

The eagerly awaited rematch between the two fighters has already generated plenty of activity in the betting industry, with punters eager to wager on the bout.<\/p>\n

This has had a knock-on effect on other betting verticals, with some operators reporting an uptick in new customers since the fight was confirmed.<\/p>\n

Bettors have increasingly explored the options at West Virginia online casinos<\/a> and across other regions in the hope of boosting their bankroll.<\/p>\n

The oddsmakers rate Volkanovski as the favourite to defend the title, despite many mixed martial arts (MMA) experts predicting a different outcome.<\/p>\n

There has been widespread talk that the 37-year-old could retire from the sport, but he says he will only hang up his gloves if he suffers a one-sided defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where that (retirement talk) came from exactly,\u201d Volkanovski told The Ariel Helwani Show<\/a>. \u201cJust whether people are going off what I say, I\u2019ve mentioned, \u2018How many more do I have?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was to get beaten up, am I going to come back to fight? No. But that\u2019s not my plans. Unless some things go horrendously wrong, I plan on going back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lopes bout will be Volkanovski\u2019s first title defence on home soil. He is rated as Australia\u2019s greatest ever exponent of MMA and is a fan favourite.<\/p>\n

He outclassed Lopes in their first meeting last April, picking apart a fighter who many people believe is capable of winning the featherweight title.<\/p>\n

Lopes, who earned a second shot at the title with a stoppage victory over Jean Silva in September, insists he learned a lot from his first fight against Volkanovski.<\/p>\n

However, he admits that fighting on \u2018enemy territory\u2019 makes his task more difficult and has predicted he will need a submission or knockout to emerge victorious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time now, I think it\u2019s different,\u201d Lopes said<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t have the pressure. The first time I fought him, I only tried to finish him with one big punch. I forgot many things in [that] fight. And I forgot the best thing in my life \u2013 enjoy the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the people see the video before the fight, I\u2019m so serious. The people [who] know me, I\u2019m never serious. I always smile \u2013 I\u2019m always joking with different people. So, this time, I\u2019ll just enjoy the moment. When I enjoy the moment, I\u2019m the most dangerous guy in the division.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the card, the lightweight clash between Dan Hooker and Benoit Saint Denis could potentially earn \u2018Fight of the Night\u2019 status.<\/p>\n

Hookers is bidding to bounce back from a defeat against Arman Tsarukyan last November, while Saint Denis recorded three consecutive finishes during 2025.<\/p>\n

Main card<\/p>\n

Alexander Volkanovski vs Diego Lopes \u2013 Featherweight
\nDan Hooker vs Benoit Saint Denis \u2013 Lightweight
\nRafael Fiziev vs Mauricio Ruffy \u2013 Lightweight
\nTai Tuivasa vs Tallison Teixeira \u2013 Heavyweight
\nJimmy Crute vs Dustin Jacoby \u2013 Light Heavyweight<\/p>\n

Preliminary card<\/p>\n

Junior Tafa vs Billy Elekana \u2013 Light Heavyweight
\nCameron Rowston vs Cody Brundage \u2013 Middleweight
\nJacob Malkoun vs Torrez Finney \u2013 Middleweight<\/p>\n

Early preliminary card<\/p>\n

Jonathan Micallef vs Oban Elliott \u2013 Welterweight
\nKaan Ofli vs Yi Zha \u2013 Featherweight
\nKim Sang-wook vs Dom Mar Fan \u2013 Lightweight
\nKeiichiro Nakamura vs Sebastian Szalay \u2013 Featherweight
\nSulang Rangbo vs Lawrence Lui \u2013 Bantamweight
\nAaron Tau vs Namsrai Batbayar \u2013 Flyweight<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC 325 Preview UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is confident that we will overcome Diego Lopes when they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-407097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}