Alexander Volkanovski becomes two-time champ at UFC 314

Thomson Reuters

Former champion Alexander Volkanovski regained his once undisputed UFC featherweight championship Saturday night opposite Diego Lopes in the main event of UFC 314 by winning a unanimous decision 48-47, 49-46, 49-46 in Miami.

The fight lived up to expectations, with both men staying composed on their feet despite a near-fight-changing sequence from Lopes (26-7 MMA) by dropping Volkanovski (27-4 MMA) in the final seconds of Round 2.

Nevertheless, the volume of Volkanovski's striking made the difference despite being unable to find a home for the knockout.

"It's good to be back," Volkanovski said after the win.

As for Lopes, he gave his full respect to the champion but wanted the crowd to know this is not the end of the journey.

"It was an honor to share the Octagon with Alexander Volkanovski," Lopes said. "I'll be back."

The co-main event saw Paddy Pimblett use his potent striking and relentless pace to put away Michael Chandler with an effortless third-round TKO to remain unbeaten in the UFC. Pimblett (23-3 MMA) is firmly in title contention, while Chandler (23-10 MMA) returns to the drawing board now suffering back-to-back losses at lightweight.

Featherweight Yair Rodriguez earned a unanimous decision against the debuting Patricio Pitbull, taking the scorecards 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.

Primarily a striking battle, Rodriguez caught Pitbull with a right hand in Round 3 before swarming the former Bellator star with punches to seal the deal. Rodriguez (21-5 MMA) ended a two-fight skid, while Pitbull (36-8 MMA) hadn't tasted defeat in nearly two years after spending 14 years under the Bellator banner.

Jean Silva won a grudge match against the charismatic Bryce Mitchell in the main card's second fight. Silva (16-2 MMA) submitted Mitchell with a ninja front choke at 3:52 of the second round after dominating Mitchell (17-4 MMA) for the first round's entirety while nearly finding an opening for a guillotine choke in the round's final minute.

Silva improved to 5-0 in the UFC. He has quickly emerged as a featherweight contender, snapping Mitchell's brief bounce-back momentum after Mitchell secured a TKO win last December.

Light heavyweight Dominick Reyes made short work of Nikita Krylov, to open the UFC 314 main card.

Reyes landed a counter left hook to get the KO at 2:24 of the opening round. Reyes (15-4 MMA) has won three in a row, while Krylov (30-10 MMA) had a three-fight winning streak snapped dating to July 2022.