UFC 314 – Alexander Volkanovski defeats Diego Lopes to reclaim title after Paddy Pimblett’s brutal win over Michael Chandler

Thanks for joining us tonight – worth staying up for if you ask me! A Volkanovski masterclass and Paddy Pimblett break-out performance, the beers will taste particularly good for those two in Miami tonight. Catch you next time for UFC 315 on May 11 when Belal Muhammad takes on Jack Della Maddalena.

The judges all saw it the same way and it was experience and wits that helped Volk win that one. A sensational performance from a man still showing the over 35s can thrive at lower weight classes deeper into their careers.

The champion reflects: ‘It’s good to be back! I’ve never felt the love so much, I was saying all week I promised my girls I’ll bring the belt back. Coming off a couple of losses, come back and beat a gun in Lopes. Adversity is a privilige, this moment is incredible. I really appreciate you. It is an opportunity, build back and make yourself stronger, people will write books about this s***, Miami I love you!’

Lopes had the pressure and harder shots – Volk landed more frequently on the back foot. The Brazilian was desperate for a brawl and has one hell of a chin. He claims an eye poke and is correct to do so as replays show the thumb goes in, but they carry on and Volk dances around, playing a smart game to see out the clock. To the scorecards we go.

Lopes’ glove slid across the eyelid of Volk and for a while the Aussie is compromised on the back foot. Lopes is hunting him and he’s having to throw without being able to see, which he says to his corner at the end of the round. Fighting Lopes with both eyes is hard enough, let alone one.

Volk is so technical and puts himself in harm’s way to win exchanges, which he does in the third. Lopes still carries a threat and has eaten some of Volk’s best work, which will give him confidence in biting down on the gumshield and going all out in the championship rounds.

Volk is fuming that a lapse in concentration has allowed Lopes to connect and drop him in a mad exchange. Lopes is the bigger man with more power but had been rocked back on the fence earlier in the round before getting his own back. It was another in the books for the Australian until that big moment late on.

Volkanovski looks razor sharp. He connected with a massive right hand to stun Lopes and then latched onto a takedown. The Aussie blitzed a knee and elbows in on the fence before hurting him with vicious ground and pound. Brilliant opener for the ex champ.

Topuria’s move up a division has caused a vacancy at 145lbs – we’ll soon find out who will fill it.

Volkanovski, one of the great fighters of modern times, can win back his old title tonight or will it be a passing of the torch to the next generation in Diego Lopes. Lopes has everything you need to be a champion but if Volkanovski can deliver the kind of form that saw him dominate the division for so long, he should have enough to win it.

That is a big if, because Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev have finished the ‘Great’ in his last two outings.

Pimblett’s striking has come on leaps and bounds, he’s powerful and unorthodox and looked big for the division in there tonight. Top five lightweights are on notice.

Dominant, ruthless and brutal.

‘Everything I’ve worked on, that’s just happened here, we gameplan and use our fight IQ. Anyone else got any questions? I want that world title, people said I would never be ranked, never be top 10. Dustin, Justin, Charles or posh by Tsarukyan. F*** Arman, he’s a little sausage.’

Pimblett just obliterated Chandler. He beat him up. A flying knee cuts the American open, he pieces him up on the feet before taking him down and just hammering him to a bloody mess before the referee mercifully stops it.

Pimblett has one of the best rounds of his time in the UFC. He lands the better strikes, reverses a takedown and punishes the American with brutal ground and pound, he’s well ahead and just needs to avoid being finished in the last. With a couple more minutes on the clock Pimblett would have fancied a stoppage of his own there.

Pimblett looks so assured on the feet and is on top for the opener, landing effectively, particularly towards the end of the round. Chandler takes him down early but is unable to do much with it, Pimblett then connects with a couple of elbows and tries a jumping triangle. Plenty of action, not much damage and The Baddy on top so far.

Moments away from this one getting underway.

It’ll be fascinating to see if Paddy Pimblett says anything to Trump on the mic after the fight if he wins – it’d be one way to get the crowd onside – or not if he has a pop at the president.

The Miami crowd is bouncing to Pimblett’s trademark walkout tune he calls ‘Scouse House’ – the stage is set.

There’s been plenty of respect between these two in the build-up but both are convinced they’ll get the job done. If Chandler loses, you’d have to think it’ll be the last we see of him as a legitimate contender – Pimblett is young enough to come back from a setback but this would be a damaging one to drop.

They’re calling this one the ‘people’s main event’ and it is certainly capturing plenty of interest among casual and hardcore MMA fans alike. Pimblett, ranked 12 at lightweight, is looking to surge into the top 10 and would maybe be one more win away from the title shot. Nobody knew how good Pimblett was when he entered the UFC and tonight will be another major indication of the kind of career he’ll have at the top level.

Rodriguez says whoever wins tonight in the main event, he wants to fight in Mexico in September. Meditation, nutrition and committed training are what the winner puts his performance down to.

An absolute clinic from Rodriguez. He drops Pitbull in the last round with a one-two, short jab followed by right hand. Pitbull then absorbed some ungodly punishment with shots raining down from on high and savage elbows. He briefly threatened an armbar but Rodriguez slipped out and danced with his hands in the air knowing his night’s work is done.

Pitbull looks like he’s fighting a division up. Rodriguez is content to pick at him from range and slip out whenever the Brazilian closes the gap. There was one brief takedown for Pitbull but he was unable to make it stick and the Mexican is two rounds up.

Pitbull does almost nothing in his first round in the UFC. Rodriguez looks in incredible shape and is landing kicks from all angles. Pitbull secures a late takedown but does very little with it before complaining about being hit in the back of the head.

This should be an unbelievable fight. Pitbull is making his UFC debut having reached the pinnacle of the sport elsewhere, dominating over at Bellator. Rodriguez remains one of the most skilful and unpredictable stars at featherweight. This has fight of the night written all over it.

Silva says he tried to touch gloves with Mitchell on multiple occasions because he thought the venomous build-up was just part of the game but now believes Mitchell has something seriously wrong with him and says people need to pray for him.

What a performance! Silva was so loose in there and looked like a champion in waiting tonight. He smashes up Mitchell on the feet, right hand to the chin, Mitchell shoots for a takedown but puts his neck in a dangerous area and pays the price. The American tapped but went unconscious anyway. Very impressive scrap.

Silva has the crowd barking in unison, that’s been his thing this week. There’s some bite to go with it in round one too. He tries to get a guillotine but Mitchell escapes. The American certainly had his moments with calf kicks and busier output over the first five minutes.

Mitchell, always one to spew out controversial, rogue and occasionally just idiotic points of view, has ramped up the interest in this one. He is elite on the ground and will be a real test tonight. Silva is looking to move to 5-0 in the UFC and is being tipped by many as a future champ.

Women’s MMA’s GOAT. She didn’t know this was coming while sat in the crowd. A brilliant video of tributes and highlights was played on the big screen and the Brazilian broke down, overcome with the emotion of it. One of the most obvious and deserving HoF inclusions ever as she’s inducted into the modern wing.

Reyes made a point of seeking out Trump after that finish, even prentending to do a golf swing. Trump, Elon Musk and Dana White are positioned cageside with monitors next to them for replays of the live broadcast.

Reyes: ‘I’m not back, I’m better! Fighting Krylov is no joke, he’s a solid competitor, one of the hardest in the division. Losing sucked before but my faith kept me here and grounded, anything is going on in your life just keep going.

‘I want to be in the top 10 now, one more then a title, let’s go!’

Dominick Reyes is back! This was an absolutely outrageous finish. Krylov lunges forward with a combo, Reyes slips backwards and times a perfect left hand to flatline his opponent in much the same way as Conor McGregor did to Jose Aldo all those years ago.

Right, we’re into the business end of the evening – the pre-lims were a mixed bag but there are five stellar match-ups on the main card now.

We begin with Nikita Krylov vs Dominick Reyes. Krylov is the favourite in this light-heavyweight showdown but Reyes has found form and confidence again since that infamous night against Jon Jones – that he and many others thought he won – before going on a losing skid.

Trump has been doing the rounds in the VIP section of the crowd cageside. This one has a really big fight night feel and you can always base it off the level of celebrity in the arena. It doesn’t hurt that this one is in Miami either.

It is slightly mental that the biggest walkout of the night doesn’t belong to a fighter. President Trump, flanked by his granddaughter Kai, strolls out to roars from the Miami crowd and chants of ‘USA’.

He laps up the acclaim, heads over to the commentary desk and shakes hands with Joe Rogan before exchanging a few words and heading to his seat for the evening.

‘One of the worst stoppages I’ve ever seen’, says Joe Rogan. Dan Ige is beating Sean Woodson well but as Woodson is getting up from an attempted takedown and absorbing some short rabbit shots to the head, the refere bizarrely intervenes. It was very premature.

The Brazilian strawweight almost secured an armbar right at the end of her clash with Yan Xiaonan but did more than enough to earn the decision. Next up could well be a shot at Zhang Weili.

If you’re a betting man or woman, you might fancy a go on Pimblett to tap his man out later. The Baddy is elite on the ground but it seems unlikely Chandler will want the fight anywhere near that realm.

An early backer of both Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann, Portnoy is hoping the Liverpool fighter overcomes Michael Chandler in the co-main tonight in what would be the biggest win of his career.

Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy is among the great and the good cageside tonight. Amanda Nunes and Alexandre Pantoja also watching on in Miami.

Mystic Mac is back with a prediction for the co-main event tonight – a cool half a million dollars and he’s betting on Michael Chandler to win by ‘brutal’ KO. Pimblett is yet to taste defeat since entering the UFC.

Hooper controlled Miller for 15 minutes in a bit of a dull one, he says: ‘I was hoping for a more exciting fight but Jim is so tough. I am here for finishes and sorry I didn’t do that for you guys, I got my paycheck for my wife and baby. Honestly I’m tired of beating up the old guys, I want to fight one of the younger 155ers on the come up next.’

Plenty of famous faces expected in the Miami crowd tonight, the president among them. Aljamain Sterling, former UFC bantamweight champ seems to be enjoying himself in his seat for the pre-lims.

The blonde locks of Pimblett have been tightly woven as usual and Lopes looks the part with his cowboy hat – the quartet of main and co-main fighters are in the building nice and early.

Julian Erosa kicked off the pre-lims with a first round win over Darren Elkins – an early up-kick changed the course of the fight and completely shook Elkins in that one.

Next up is Jim Miller, who is looking to add to his total of 27 UFC wins (the most ever), against young Chase Hooper, a 25-year-old baby-faced prospect who made his debut as a teenager.

Nora Comolle def. Hailey Cowan by first round submission

Marco Tulia def. Tresean Gore by second round TKO/KO

Su Mudaerji def. Mitch Raposo by decision

Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Sedriques Dumas by first round TKO/KO

They breed them tough in Australia, don’t they? I guess they have more than their share of crocodiles too but it’s the alligator that Volk fancies his chances against, probably tough to submit with a neck that size – do alligators have necks? Their whole body is kind of a neck. Not sure how we’ve gone this deranged this early in the night but it bodes well.

PRE-LIMS (first to last) –

Darren Elkins vs Julian Erosa

Jim Miller vs Chase Hooper

Yan Xiaonan vs Virna Jandiroba

MAIN CARD (first to last) –

Nikita Krylov vs Dominick Reyes

Bryce Mitchell vs Jean Silva

Yair Rodriguez vs Patricio Pitbull

Michael Chandler vs Paddy Pimblett

Alexander Volkanovski vs Diego Lopes

Volk, Lopes, Pimblett and Chandler – this should be an absolute belter tonight, so much so that Donald Trump is expected in the Kaseya Center in Miami in just under an hour. Keep it here for all the best of the undercard action before we dig into the main servings later…