There will be a new featherweight champion at UFC 314.
UFC CEO Dana White announced on Instagram Live that Alexander Volkanovski (26-4) will look to become a two-time featherweight champion when he faces Diego Lopes (26-6) in the main event of the fight card at the Kaseya Center in Miami on April 12.
White said current featherweight champion Ilia Topuria will vacate the title and move up to the lightweight division in pursuit of a world championship in a second weight class. There is no fight lined up for Topuria’s forthcoming lightweight debut.
Volkanovski has suffered consecutive knockout losses, falling to current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in October 2023 before losing the featherweight title to Topuria last February. Lopes will enter the fight on a five-fight winning streak, with his last victory coming by dominant unanimous decision over former title contender Brian Ortega at Riyadh Season Noche UFC last September.
The co-main event will be a five-round lightweight fight between Michael Chandler and Paddy Pimblett.
Chandler, the UFC’s No. 7-ranked lightweight, is coming off a decision loss to former champion Charles Oliveira in November. Chandler, 38, was famously tied to a major showdown with superstar Conor McGregor and was sidelined for two years as the UFC targeted a fight between the two. A fight was announced for UFC 303 last June, but McGregor was forced out with a toe injury two weeks before the fight date. Rather than wait again, Chandler (23-9) opted to face Oliveira. He is 1-4 in his past five fights.
Pimblett (22-3) is the UFC’s No. 12-ranked lightweight and is 6-0 in the UFC. Fighting out of Liverpool, England, Pimblett was last in action when he submitted King Green in the first round of their 155-pound fight at UFC 304 in July.
Also announced is the UFC debut of former Bellator two-weight world champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, who will face Yair Rodriguez in a featherweight fight. Freire was the second simultaneous two-division champion in Bellator MMA history and was widely considered the best fighter to never compete in the UFC. That will end at UFC 314 against a former title contender.
Freire, 37, was released from his PFL contract in January after months of disagreements over his lack of activity in the MMA promotion. He last fought in March 2024 when he successfully defended the featherweight championship against Jeremy Kennedy.