UFC 314 was a bittersweet victory for Alexander Volkanovski. Although the Australian won back his title after over a year, he cannot celebrate by eating the food he wants- at least not for a few weeks.
The newly crowned UFC featherweight champion gave Lopes his flowers after the spectacular main event last weekend. Even though Volk outperformed the Mexican-Brazilian fighter (48-47, 49-46 and 49-46), Lopes managed to put his mark on the champ’s face.
During blitzkreig in the second round, Lopes even dropped Volk with a beautiful right, opening up a cut under his right eye. Volk would continue to outland him almost at a 3:1 ratio. But Lopes’ power game would force the fight back in his favor every time he connected. Notably, this was the first UFC title fight of Lopes’ career.
With the dust now settled after a few sunrises following the emotional end to UFC 314, Volk has been able to gather himself and is happy to let his fans know all about the damage incurred.
“Lopes, well done, mate. You did a great job….I’ve got cuts even in my mouth, making it hard to eat. I’ll be feeling the Lopes pain for a couple of weeks”, the featherweight champion said cheekily.
Volkanovski went on to explain that Lopes was a good man who probably didn’t want to see him in pain but joked that if it made him feel any better, he really put the champ through a meat grinder.
Alexander Volkanovski reveals he has cuts in his mouth and is struggling to eat, and he praises Lopes for the pain caused.
“There are cuts in my mouth, making it hard to eat. I’ll be feeling the pain from Lopes for a couple of weeks. I mean, he’s a good dude—he doesn’t want to… pic.twitter.com/QPsEnAPf9K
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) April 15, 2025
Volk also reportedly lost his sight during the fight when Lopes’ glove grazed through his left eye. During the post-fight press conference, the Aussie looked visibly uncomfortable, with black eyes and a completely bruised face.
Fans were also concerned after watching him blinking with only one eye, leaving them confused about whether his vision was still not back or this was a result of stritches.
At the press conference Alexander Volkanovski was blinking with only one eye.
Is champ’s vision alright? pic.twitter.com/lRKrLZkYAk
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 14, 2025
And while he does intend to keep his word and fight Movsar Evloev next, at the moment, the champion doesn’t know if he can keep up with the 3-month timeline he had set for himself.
Volk holds off on Movsar fight
“I mean, Movsar, if they want to do that, if they wanna quickly go and I feel good, maybe a quick turnaround with Movsar if I don’t have busted hands. That was my plan, bang, bang, bang“, he said of fighting the 19-0 challenger.
Interestingly, Yair Rodriguez, after an impressive win over MMA veteran Patricio Pitbull, has also called out Volk. And, unsurprisingly, if the UFC wants to hand him a title shot, the champion isn’t opposed to it either.
Volk claimed that before UFC 314, he didn’t see anyone getting close to Evloev in matters of challenging for the title/
“I’ll be honest, before that fight, I didn’t think he would get a shot. I’ll be honest about that, but now that he’s calling, I’m not going to be the one to say no“, he reiterated.
That said, it does appear that the Evloev fight is something he’s a lot more interested in since the challenger will also have a lot to lose.
“Obviously, you’ve got guys like Movsar who’s undefeated. I’d love to take that zero.”
