Volkanovski dominates Lopes for unanimous decision win at UFC 325

SYDNEY (AP) — In a masterful performance, as he's done so many other times, Alexander Volkanovski successfully defended his featherweight title with a unanimous decision over Diego Lopes at UFC 325. New South Wales native Volkanovski (29-4-0) won on all three judges' scorecards 49-46, 49-46 and 50-45, much to the delight of the crowd inside Sydney Olympic Park. With precision punches and stellar footwork, Volkanovski looked even more dominating than he did during his unanimous decision victory over Lopes (27-8-0) at UFC 314 on April 12 in Miami. "We were ready for him to make the right adjustments; his team did a good job," Volkanovski said. "Last (fight), we moved to the right, he did a great job of cutting that off. But that just means I'm going to use all my other tools." Which he did, dominating nearly all 25 minutes of the fight, something the 37-year-old admitted he would have rather not needed against his younger foe. "I wanted to grab a hold of him and put him down, but he was strong; I didn't want to stand for 25 minutes, I'll be honest," Volkanovski said. "But we got the job done." After an uneventful first round that was littered mostly with layered feints from both fighters, the action picked up in the second round. Volkanovski even attempted a jumped guillotine that Lopes slipped out of before attempting a rear-naked choke at the end of the round. Both fighters landed massive right hands in the third round, the champion with a double-right that staggered Lopes and the challenger with a quick strike that briefly dropped Volkanovski to his knees. Volkanovski, who tied Jose Aldo for the most title fight wins in UFC featherweight history with eight, was methodical over the final two rounds to seize the win in front of his hometown fans. "I almost had my moment in Perth," Volkanovski said, referring to his lightweight championship loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 on Feb. 12, 2023. "But I got my moment here in Sydney." In the co-main event, No. 8 lightweight Benoit Saint Denis (17-3-0) got his fourth-straight victory when he scored a technical knockout of No. 6 Dan Hooker (24-14-0) at the 4:45 mark of the second round. Saint Denis, who hasn't seen a third round since his UFC debut in 2021, began a ground and pound with several brutal elbows before finishing with a bevy of punches. In a lightweight bout, No. 14 Mauricio Ruffy (13-2-0) used a flurry of punches that began with a thunderous right hand to score a technical knockout of No. 9 Rafael Fiziev (13-5-0) at the 4:30 mark of the second round. In what culminated with a bloodied slugfest in the third and final round of their heavyweight battle, No. 15 Tallison Teixeira (9-1-0) earned a unanimous decision over No. 12 Tai Tuivasa (15-9-0). Quillan Salkilld (11-1-0) opened the main card by making quick work of Jamie Mullarkey (18-9-0) with a rear-naked chokehold in the first round. It was Salkilld's fourth-straight win.