Alexander Volkanovski is running it back with Diego Lopes.
On Thursday, UFC President Dana White announced on Instagram Live that Volkanovski will defend his title against Lopes in a rematch that headlines UFC 325, which takes place in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 31 (Feb. 1 local time).
The matchup was first reported by BennyPMMA.
Volkanovski defeated Lopes at UFC 314 this past April to capture a vacant title and begin his second reign as featherweight champion. The title was vacated by Ilia Topuria in anticipation of a move to lightweight, and Topuria successfully became champion at 155 pounds with a stunning knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
Following his loss to Volkanovski, Lopes quickly returned to the win column with a second-round knockout of Jean Silva in the main event of Noche UFC 3, handing Silva his first UFC loss and snapping his 13-fight win streak.
Lopes lost a competitive decision to Volkanovski in their first encounter, but the timing of the rematch is strange given that there are two undefeated contenders waiting in the wings: Movsar Evloev (19-0), who has not competed in 2025 and missed a chunk of time due to injury, and Lerone Murphy (16-0-1), who is coming off of a spectacular first-round finish of former Bellator standout Aaron Pico.
Murphy was rumored to be Volkanovski’s next challenger, with Volkanovski saying at one point that the matchup was “a no-brainer,” but it appears he will either have to wait or fight again with Volkanovski vs. Lopes 2 now official.
Shortly after the announcement, Murphy shared his disappointment on social media:
Sad thing is Lopes isn’t popular and no one wants to see this fight.
I think Lopes finishes Volk in this one. At least I hope he does. Volk is old and now it’s time to put him out to pasture
Lopes seems to have all the physical advantages at this point in their careers. It always looked like if they engaged in a firefight, Lopes would come out on top. But he got rocked in the first round and that scared him away from any crazy engagements for the rest of the match.
Very weird to give him a rematch so soon, I don’t even remember the first fight being that competitive.
It wasn’t. I believe Alex won 4 rounds to 1 on 2 of 3 scorecards.
^ Here Ya Go
Yawn
This is one week between numbered cards 
.
Looks like they might be cramming the big guns in that first month or two to kick off with a bang, but there will be some real DOG DAYS after that if so.
I hope lopes wins. Nothing against Volk, just tired of him
Terrible match making. Evloev and Murphy are both undefeated and way more deserving of this fight. It’s exactly like Gaethje getting the fight rather than Tsarukyan. WWE shit at this point.
They need to get Jean Silva back into the title picture asap
He’s fighting Arnold Allen on the card before this one so he will be if he wins