The vacant featherweight title will be up for grabs in the UFC 314 main event April 12 in Miami, Florida. Former champion Alexander Volkanovski faces No. 3 ranked Diego Lopes at Kaseya Center for the title Ilia Topuria relinquished to move up to the lightweight division.
Former bantamweight champion and current ninth-ranked featherweight contender Aljamain Sterling gave his prediction for the upcoming title bout and believes it will be one-sided.
“I think Volkanovski’s going to put the beats on Lopes,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “I truly do think Volk is going to put the beats on him, and I’m going to give them the reason why Volk is going to whoop that ass.”
“Volkanovski is coming with a vengeance. He is in phenomenal shape. What he does great versus what Diego Lopes does great is not the same. Volk is super well-rounded. He’s strong in every single department. Maybe not a submission specialist but he’s very hip to the grappling game,” continued Sterling. “Diego Lopes is a very good grappler in terms of submission threats but when it comes to striking his an all or nothing guy in the first round. There’s no pacing about Diego Lopes.”
“He’s an all or nothing, blitz type of fighter. He runs at you, sprints at you in the first minute or two and if he clips you, he smells blood in the water, he’s very, very good at finishing fights from there. If that is his game plan against Volkanovski, and he has no plan B, Diego Lopes is going to lose this fight. There’s no other way to say it. He’s not going five rounds toe-to-toe with Alex Volkanovski. It’s just not happening.”
