UFC 314: Volkanovski vs Lopes - Apr 12 ???️

[Bruce85]

I’ve no plans tomorrow so I’m gonna try and stay up for this one, it’s been a while since I’ve watch an event live. I’ll no doubt fall asleep before the prelims even start. 

[Bus Surfer]

Up for this lads. Feels like an actual PPV card with a title fight, bunch of names, and a genuinely interesting card throughout that would garner a 4/5 page thread on here 5 years back.

God speed, motherfuckers. 

[Bruce85]

Now that was a UFC show! Absolutely buzzing after that. 
 

So happy to see Volk get the belt back in what was an outstanding fight. I thought it was clear he won the fight but he had to work hard for it! Thought he looked amazing in those first couple of rounds, despite that knock down at the end of the second. Although Lopes was cracking him with big shots I thought the output from Volk was too much for Lopes to deal with, Lopes looked best when the exchanges got a bit wild and frantic. An excellent fight from both and I don’t think that loss hurts Lopes at all. It will be interesting to see who’s next for Volk. 
 

That was a dominant win and statement by Paddy, he beat Chandler up! I’m not the biggest fan of Paddy and I think it’s clear he’s been given some favourable matches in order to get him up that rankings but he can only beat wants in front of him and I thought he looked fantastic here and really made a statement. I’m don’t think he will ever be champion but if wins his next fight you could see the UFC striking whilst the irons hot and throwing him on a title fight. Not really sure what you do with Chandler now, he’s still got some name value and is fun to watch but he’s on a bit of a skid. 
 

Yair v Pitbull wasn’t the most exciting fight ever and took awhile to get going but it wasn’t too bad, the 3rd round definitely saved it. I think this is the problem with the Bellator guys coming over late in their careers, it always seems a bit late and we don’t get their best. Yair vs Lopes could be a fun fight to make now! 
 

Loved watching Silva choke out Mitchell! The biggest test for Silva and he looked great in there. The fighting nerds are such a good team to watch and Silva is fast becoming a fan favourite. 
 

I thought Rayes looked good in there, he seems so much more confident in himself again and I think that’s definitely helping his performances. To “lose” to Jones in that manner must have been really tough to deal with, followed by a losing streak must really take its toll physiologically so it’s good to see him looking more confident and putting some wins together. The lay of for Krylov could have been a factor but I didn’t think he looked that bad. 
 

I enjoyed the prelims but did anyone else feel a bit uncomfortable watching Elkins? After he ate that up kick he just looked totally out of it, he seemed like he was in slow motion, his balance seemed shot and like he had no idea where he was. I think that could have been stopped a bit earlier. Unlike the Woodson/ stoppage which seemed way to premature! 
 

Overall an excellent show that reminds me why I love this sport! 

[Bus Surfer]

A thoughly enjoyable show! Lots happened here, but Jean Silva demoralising Bryce whilst being a total nice guy about it was great to see. Strap a rocket to that dude. So fun to watch. The whole team is like Chutebox with a modern day 'geeks are cool' feel, all whilst being a bunch of absolute savages. Lovely stuff. 

The world is at peace again with Volk back at the top of 145. What a guy. Lopez will be back round. 145 is healthy as fuck. Wish Topuria was sticking round a little longer. 

Paddy wallopping Chandler wasn't on my bingo card, and whilst I still can't take to him this was his career best performance. Madly, we said the same thing after his win over Green, but he's clearly putting the work in and making the most of the opportunities served. He looked a star here. 

Fuck the Apex! 

Edit - and Just wanted to add, the Amanda Nunes HOF announcement was really nicely put together and it seemed like she had no idea it was happening. All the more funny she said immediately after that she wants to fight Harrison when she inevitably bulldozes Pena later this year. What is it with UFC hall of famers? Terry Funk would be proud. 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2025 by Bus Surfer

[theringmaster]

The show pretty much lived up to the hype.

 

Paddy absolutely seized the opportunity. I know there are lots of doubts about his real star potential but he has to be praised for how well he took this fight and made the night all about him.

Mitchell looked completely in over his head, I think with his recent comments this fight had more eyes on him than ever and he sinked instead of swam! He's not destined for big time. 

[Kfogg1991]

Well good god that was a phenomenal show.....I hadn't slept for two days because of a really bad situation in work Friday night so I didn't want to wake up grumpy and not have the guys over and it was worth it.

 

Volk just blew me away, I was so nervous we were seeing the last fight for him and I think had he lost it was pretty much on the table but wow he looked incredible, the year off was the right move because he looked so dominant against a fighter like Lopez who's in his prime and peek year's, I only gave one round to Lopez and agreed with the two judges and couldn't be happier with the closing moments of the show..... HOWEVER 

 

The most important and truly special thing from the whole week was this co main and undeniable Star paddy pimblett has become for the company.

Firstly I was shocked at the presser how much he was cheered compared to chandler who got booed.... this is Paddy's first top outing on a ppv in the states away from the UK card and full of UK names or majority British numbers in attendance and that felt so special witnessing the rise of a new UK star.....I will admit I laughed when he was talking about knocking chandler out but he flat lined him and completely dominated and that is how you shut up doubters and make a statement and he now sits in the top 10 and probably 1 fight away from going for a title and jesus that has to make you feel good.

 

So disappointed with Pitbull he froze in there and I don't know where he goes now.

 

Silva is the MVP of the month what he did to Bryce was the most gripping and entertaining thing I could have asked for at nearly 4 in the morning as tired as I was feeling then. He's on par with Michel pierra for me so good.

Dominic scored a first round knock out that tickled us so much we could have ran to America and knocked him out with the way he ran arms down chin up begging to be put out cold.

 

Rest of the card was so good this was a ppv that finally delivered for us let's hope it continues 

[Egg Shen]

Yeah, thought this was a slam dunk from a main card perspective. What you need is fights with stakes which you come away from itching for what's next, this had it across each fight. Great stuff.

[Dai]

Suprised at the amount of love the main event is getting. I thought it was decent, but clearly a fight which didnt get into top gears for the vast majority of the fight. Youre used to seeing chaos with Lopes, and for most of it he stayed too cautious.

Combine that with Pitbull completely shitting the bed with his debut and it knocked the main card down a few pegs for me. In terms of perception and getting people excited about future fights, Pitbull's tactics were an absolute disaster. The complete opposite of what Chandler did when he came in. You know for a fact his card is marked by Dana already. Off to the Apex he goes.

Paddy looked phenominal. Theres always questions when a fighter starts getting on in age, especially in the lighter divisions, and about how quickly they can fall off a cliff. Time will tell whether thats whats happened to Iron Mike, but Paddy can only beat who is in front of him, and he destroyed poor Chandler. All of the fights he called for sound really interesting, too.

[Carbomb]

Prior to the Chandler fight, I wouldn't have given much for Pimblett's chances against any of those he named - now, difficult to say. I still don't think he beats any of them, but I'm not so sure about Gaethje or Oliveira. Gaethje because every time he fights you're left wondering if this is going to be the day the wars catch up to him, and his chin crumbles to dust. Oliveira because he's getting on a bit, and it's difficult to know yet whether or not he's on a slide. 

I certainly don't rate PP's chances against Tsarukyan or Poirier. Out of the LW division guys above him that he hasn't named, based on his performance against Chandler, I'd say Gamrot or Hooker might be more winnable for him.

He says he wants the belt, but I don't think he gets a sniff of it with Holloway, Tsarukyan, or Poirier to get past.

But even more importantly: Ilia Topuria is now in the lightweight division. 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah this was more like it.

Volkanovski reclaiming UFC gold was such a feel-good moment. It’s a shame it came at the expense of Diego Lopes but like someone else said, he’s got time to bounce back. This was the preferable result. Another loss for Volk here would’ve been a disaster and I’m not sure how he’d have came back from it, especially if he got knocked out again. Thought it was an enjoyable fight to watch. Not a barnburner but entertaining enough. Volk just made it a bit too one-sided in the end and Lopes at points seemed to just stand around too much, almost mesmerised watching Volk do his thing. Really good performance from Volk though. Think I had it 4-1 Volk. Definitely proved that all the talk of him being washed up was premature. He lost to Makhachev and Topuria, for fuck’s sake. And some were already zipping up the bodybag on his career. Also showed his chin isn’t gone yet because Lopes cracked him a few times and even dropped him and Volk held up just fine for the full 25 minutes.

I wanna see Volk vs Evloev next. And Lopes vs Yair. For some reason I’m seeing loads of talk of Volk vs Yair 2 now for the belt. No. Fuck off. Obviously I get why Yair’s pushing for that, why wouldn’t he? He’d be stupid not to. But even with the UFC’s stiffy for pointless rematches, is anyone interested in a Volk vs Yair re-run now? Yair was coming off back-to-back losses before beating Pitbull here. And one of them was the first Volk fight, where Volk absolutely schooled and finished him. Can honestly say I’ve got zero interest in seeing that again. Especially with Volk probably only having a couple of fights left. Don’t know how many of you saw it but Yair and Diego Lopes got into a heated argument at the press conference and apparently there’s some legit beef there. Surely that’s the fight to make now. Ideally on the next Noche card in September.

Gotta begrudgingly give Paddy his due. Again. I hated having to give him credit for the Bobby Green win but here we are again. And while I fully believe both the Green and Chandler fights were made with the matchmakers intentions being to try to get Paddy wins over fading names, at the end of the day I picked both to beat Paddy so I can’t exactly switch up and discredit these wins now.

Absolutely bludgeoned Chandler. Thought this was by far the best Paddy’s looked in the UFC. By far. In both his actual performance and just physically. He looked bigger and stronger for the weight class than he ever has. I don’t know if it’s the fact he’s a Dad now or what, his Mrs gave birth to twins last year, but maybe he’s taking things more seriously now and not letting himself morph into quite as much of a fat pig between fights. What surprised me most about this performance was that he was able to take Chandler down. That’s the one thing I thought he’d struggle most with just because of Chandler’s own wrestling background and him being such a shortarse. But he got him down, got on top and annihilated him with those 12-6 elbows.

I’m not gonna be 100% positive. Still can’t stand the twat. He’s not been as annoying lately as he’s been in the past but I’m not converted or anything. He’s been enough of a knob for a long enough time that it’s gonna take more than a couple of strong performances and a slightly less abrasive media presence to change my mind. But I can’t find much to knock about this one. He still holds his chin up high and, for all his “Scousers don’t get knocked out” talk, he’s gonna pay for that at some point. But he got away with it here, probably largely because Chandler’s a midget.

I will say though, not so much on here but I think some of the talk about Paddy now is getting a bit much. It’s worth remembering, although I was leaning towards Chandler winning, he is gonna turn 39 this month, he is 1-5 in his last 6 and he was coming off a couple of losses going into this fight. Not even dismissing Paddy’s performance or win but you’ve got to take that into account to some degree. I’ll give him credit in that he beat Chandler more impressively than Charles Oliveira did in November. But still, there’s a reason they’ve been giving Paddy high ranked guys who are ageing and/or coming off losses. This was a very good performance and it’ll have done its job in getting Paddy further up the rankings. Seeing all kinds of mad claims now that he’s a lock to be champion by next year. But a bit of perspective is needed on that and it’s worth noting that, at every point so far, they’ve been actively trying to give him the most winnable option.

6 hours ago, Carbomb said:

Prior to the Chandler fight, I wouldn't have given much for Pimblett's chances against any of those he named - now, difficult to say. I still don't think he beats any of them, but I'm not so sure about Gaethje or Oliveira. Gaethje because every time he fights you're left wondering if this is going to be the day the wars catch up to him, and his chin crumbles to dust. Oliveira because he's getting on a bit, and it's difficult to know yet whether or not he's on a slide. 

I certainly don't rate PP's chances against Tsarukyan or Poirier. Out of the LW division guys above him that he hasn't named, based on his performance against Chandler, I'd say Gamrot or Hooker might be more winnable for him.

He says he wants the belt, but I don't think he gets a sniff of it with Holloway, Tsarukyan, or Poirier to get past.

But even more importantly: Ilia Topuria is now in the lightweight division. 

Yeah, agree with all that and this is with us both not even mentioning the current champ Islam Makhachev! Looking at those names you mention, yeah, I could see Tsarukyan being a really tough one for Paddy. Oliveira’s a more interesting one now than it was before for me. Never thought I’d ever entertain Paddy beating him but with Charles now 35 and not looking quite the force he did a couple of years ago, who the fuck knows? Similar boat with Poirier and Gaethje. I feel like they’d both be too much of a dog for Paddy but they’re both older and have been through so many wars. Gamrot might actually be tricky because I don’t think Paddy would be able to just run over him in the grappling but it’s more of a 50/50 to me now than before. Hooker and Holloway could be fun. But yeah, still think Topuria absolutely wastes him. And Makhachev is probably the worst fight out there for Paddy and I think he knows it. He was asked about it after the show and said something like ‘I think Makhachev might retire soon, maybe he won’t even be the champion by the time I get there’. Which sounds a bit like wishful thinking. Got to admit though, the fact I’m even talking about Paddy Pimblett in the same breath as all these names is something I never thought I’d be doing. He’s already gone further than I expected.

Yair vs Pitbull was alright. Wasn’t as good as I expected but not bad. Warmed up in the third round. Not too much to even say other than I fucking hated all the “Yair’s showing there are levels, and the UFC is the highest level” shit from Rogan. Had flashbacks to him getting a boner when Pride fighters would come in and lose. It’s 2025. There isn’t really such a thing as “UFC level” anymore. That died when they started letting regional scene level scrubs in through DWCS and started passing on signing legit prospects by lowballing them. Yeah, most of the top fighters in the sport are in the UFC but that “UFC level” bollocks has never meant less than it does now. You could tell Rogan was at peak smugness when Yair dropped Pitbull in the last round. And you could tell his arse was twitching when Pitbull almost locked up the armbar shortly after. By that point I was dying for Pitbull to get the finish just to hear Rogan squirm and have to backtrack. Wasn’t to be. But this narrative he was spinning that this one fight proved the “UFC level” was superior and Pitbull couldn’t hack it. No dickhead. You guys got him at 37 years old, past his best and coming off a year plus on the shelf.

Jean Silva clowning and then finishing Bryce Mitchell was fantastic! Honestly, up there with Volk regaining the belt for me. Just beautiful. He was in Bryce’s empty head the whole build up with Bryce banging on about him being possessed and “legions of demons” harassing him in his sleep and stuff. Then makes him look a complete twat in the fight itself.

Bryce has probably been having night terrors and pissing the bed ever since. On a serious note, the fact Silva submitted him was a surprise. I don’t think anyone expected or called that. I think pretty much everyone thought if Silva won it’d be via striking and if Bryce won it’d be his grappling that would get him the W. Silva flipped the script and locked that red neck in a vice.

That moment when you realise that maybe the earth is indeed round. Maybe gravity is real. Maybe Hitler actually was an evil cunt. All his beliefs are shattered. The fact this happened in front of Trump is even funnier.

What do you do with Silva next? Really seems like the possibilities are endless, doesn’t it? So many potentially great options at both Featherweight and Lightweight. Bryce was ranked #13 at Featherweight before this fight so Silva’s gonna enter that Top 15 now. A fight with Dan Ige would make sense and would probably be a lot of fun. Or do they just chuck him in the deep end against higher ranked guys like Aljo Sterling, Arnold Allen, Brian Ortega? That’s before you even consider any Lightweight options. I only mention Lightweight because I think Silva’s days at 145 are probably numbered. He missed weight for the Jourdain fight last year and needed an extra hour to make 146 for this Bryce fight. The Dober fight was at 155 but I think it’s just a matter of time before he makes the jump permanently. Wherever he fights though, he’s a must see fighter.

Think I said earlier in the thread that I didn’t really give a shite about Reyes vs Krylov but it turned out to be short and sweet and I was happy to see Reyes get another win. The Trump arse licking after can sod off but the knockout itself was a beauty.

Rogan compared that KO to McGregor’s vs Aldo and it was probably the only thing I agreed with Rogan on all night. Obviously this wasn’t even in the same universe as McGregor vs Aldo in terms of hype and significance but just the KO itself, it was the first thing I thought of even before Rogan said it. That’s 3 straight wins, all by KO/TKO, for Reyes now. Fair play to him for somehow clawing his way out of that horrible slump he was on for a couple of years there. A win over an inactive Krylov is nothing to read too much into but with how shallow 205 is these days, a guy on a 3 fight win and KO streak can’t be too far off title contention. Crazy as that sounds. Never thought I’d be saying that about Reyes when he was losing fight after fight but here we are. He’s probably one big win away from making a serious case for a shot at the gold.

Yeah, thought the Ige vs Woodson stoppage was dodgy as well. Didn’t think it was “the worst stoppage I’ve ever seen” like King Of Hyperbole Rogan was bleating on about but it was a bad one. Woodson was clearly moving and trying to get to his feet when the ref stepped in. Just seemed like he didn’t give Woodson much of a chance to get out of that position. Not Ige’s fault but I thought the ref dropped a bit of a clanger.

Virna Jandiroba has surely secured the title shot with this clear and pretty dominant win over Yan Xiaonan. The top of the Strawweight rankings going in had Yan at #1, Tatiana Suarez at #2 and Jandiroba at #3. When they update the rankings you have to think Jandiroba will jump to #1. Plus Yan and Suarez both lost decisively in their shots at Zhang Weili’s gold quite recently. I get that Zhang vs Jandiroba won’t set the box office on fire but what does at Strawweight? Zhang’s surely gonna have a little run at Flyweight before it’s all said and done but, assuming her next fight will be another Strawweight title defence, Jandiroba absolutely deserves her shot.

Really enjoyed the Chase Hooper vs Jim Miller fight. Mostly a grappling battle and a fun one to watch. Chase has improved a lot. Especially since moving up to 155, seems like he’s got his ‘man strength’ now but also it seems like he’s just got more comfortable as he’s got more cage time. This was his best win yet over a tough veteran.

Julian Erosa did what he had to do but I definitely agree with @Bruce85 I got an uneasy feeling watching Darren Elkins take yet another beating here.

No-one can ever question his heart but he’s about to turn 41 in May and he’s taken so much punishment over the years and seeing him get put away early like this was rough. Makes you wonder if his durability is failing him now and, let’s be honest, his toughness has been his calling card throughout pretty much his entire UFC career. If that fades, what’s left?

Chuffed to see Michal Oleksiejczuk get that woman beating ballbag Sedriques Dumas out of there early. Handed him a loss and did it quick, keeping the time that prick was on my screen to a minimum. Result. Weird one though…

The bum got dropped by either a bicep to the head or a punch to the arm ? Seen a couple of complaints about the stoppage but I don’t care. I’m good with it. I’ll take it. I can live with it. Fuck Dumas.

Not much else to say about the early prelims other than I liked Marco Tulio from what I saw here. Barely remembered his UFC debut but this fight with Tresean Gore was fun while it lasted. Then Tulio sat him down for the second round finish. A fresh face in the Middleweight who actually looks promising? Or at the very least not boring. 

Didn’t realise him, Norma Dumont and Norma Dumont’s bumcheeks were an item either. He’s doing alright for himself. 


It’s crazy that this feels like such a rare thing now but it’s nice to come out of a UFC show with that bit of post-show buzz. Almost forgot what that felt like. Still really could do without the whole forced Trump bollocks and I really wish Rogan would piss off now. But on the whole, I thought this was a really fun show.

[Egg Shen]

Yeah the UFC need to step in and save Elkins from himself, that reaction and his inability to recover was worrying.

[Egg Shen]

Ian Garry may be in a spot of bother next Saturday

[Bruce85]

Not sure where all this talk about Yair getting a title shot has come from, one win in 2 years against a past his peak Pitbull doesn’t scream worthy opponent. It’s not like there is even a back story with Volk or any controversy from the first fight. Whilst I think it’s one of the more winable fights for Volk, I’m not interested, I’d rather see Volk fight someone new. As Wand said, there seems to be legit beef between Lopes and Yiar so get that booked for UFC noche, that’s a fight I wanna see! 
 

Call me crazy but I could see Paddy getting a title shot next year. If (and it’s a big if) he can beat Olivera or Gaethje I could see the UFC giving him the title shot. His stock is really high right now and I think they have to strike whilst the iron is hot, if you put him in an eliminator with Topuria I think that’s the end of the Paddy hype. It’s going to be interesting to see how the division plays out, starting to feel like the guard are going to make way for some fresh blood. 
 

@Egg Shen, agreed it could be a touch night for Garry, the Fighting Nerds look on top form at the moment! 

[Egg Shen]

4 hours ago, Bruce85 said:

Not sure where all this talk about Yair getting a title shot has come from, one win in 2 years against a past his peak Pitbull doesn’t scream worthy opponent. 

 

@Egg Shen, 

I wasn't entirely blown away by Yair either, he came alive in round 3 but I felt a lot of it was him doing slightly more than Pitbull without actually landing anything of real note. The commentary (Rogan especially) seemed to have a real anti-Bellator agenda going on during it too. Probably due to being a bit let down by Pitbull.

The Evloev fight isn't a sexy one but he's probably the best contender unless you hotshot Jean Silva in there. Lerone Murphy might have given himself a decent shout too if he'd been a bit more exciting last week.

Edited April 15, 2025 by Egg Shen

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, it’s Evloev for me. Like you say, not the easiest to hype up or sell to casuals but I think it’s a really interesting fight myself. Evloev has the strongest case for it as well on merit. Not that things like that seem to matter much these days. 

I’d be totally fine with Jean Silva getting the shot as well. Hasn’t fully earned it yet but he’s definitely got a better argument for a title shot than Yair at the moment. I get Yair’s ranked higher than Silva but at some point I think the numbers in your recent win/loss record outweigh the number of your rank. And Yair’s 1-2 in his last 3 and one of the losses was the one-sided beatdown from Volk. The main thing that might make the UFC hesitant to pull the trigger on giving Silva a shot might be that he seems to struggle with the weight cut at 145. He’s already missed weight once and he barely scraped 146 for this Bryce fight and needed the extra hour. He’d have to hit 145 on the nose for a title shot.