Lopes Called Out Volkanovski; UFC 312 Bout Never Happened
In late October 2024, Diego Lopes publicly proposed a featherweight bout with Alexander Volkanovski on a planned Sydney card. The interview documents a callout; the headline’s “showdown” was not a confirmed booking. The two eventually met in April 2025, when Volkanovski defeated Lopes by unanimous decision and won the vacant featherweight title, according to the official event results.
The callout in context
In September 2024, Lopes beat Brian Ortega by unanimous decision. The official profile of Lopes recounts that win streak and the road to his first meeting with Volkanovski.
How the matchup played out
Volkanovski won the first bout by unanimous decision in Miami in April 2025. They met again in Sydney in January 2026, where Volkanovski again won on the scorecards (49–46, 49–46, 50–45). The official scorecards record the rematch result.
Lopes followed the rematch with a second-round knockout of Steve Garcia at Freedom 250 on June 14, 2026; the official scorecards list the finish at 2:42 of Round 2. The result returned him to the win column after the two decisions against Volkanovski.
The 2024 callout was an early sign of Lopes’s ambition in the featherweight division. Its real significance became clearer later: he reached two title fights with Volkanovski, then rebounded with a finish as he continued his path through MMA.
Sources
- ESPN MMA interview: Lopes’s Sydney callout
- Lopes’s road to the first Volkanovski bout
- First Volkanovski vs. Lopes result
- Volkanovski vs. Lopes rematch scorecards
- Lopes vs. Garcia scorecard
