After Ilia Topuria made the move to the lightweight division, the featherweight realm entered a brief period of chaos. With no king to rule on the throne, every single featherweight contender currently wanted to rise up in the rankings. But now a new king is to be throne with Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes facing off at the UFC 314 headliner, which will decide who will become the new featherweight champion. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the division will stay stagnant. It seems like Dana White has made some big plans for the division.
Just a week before the date for UFC 314, Movsar Evloev took to X and revealed what the UFC head honcho had planned for the featherweight division. Well, he stuck to his own future. And there was a new entity stepping into the featherweight realm. The undefeated fighter wrote, “Today I got offered a fight in the UFC against someone new for May 17th. I have been waiting for Ortega for 3 months I’m not sure what is going on with him, but I’m ready to fight May 17th against anyone.”
Meanwhile, the soon-to-be former champion ‘La Leyenda’ is waiting for the UFC CEO to make a move in his favor. Ilia Topuria has been asking for a fight against Islam Makhachev but the lightweight champion wants him to prove himself first. This response led the Spaniard to believe that the Dagestani is probably scared of him. Nevertheless, White has been working on Topuria’s future. Weighing in on that, he claimed, “We are working on a plan for Ilia. We should have some announcement about him. Give us couple of more weeks.”
Will it be a title shot against Islam Makhachev? Or will it be a big-money, title-contender fight between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira? There are too many possibilities to think of.
But what about rest of the featherweight division? What has the UFC head honcho planned for Topuria’s vacated weight class? Well, big things are on the horizon and it all begins with UFC 314.
What has Dana White planned for the featherweight division?
The void atop the featherweight division will be filled when the #1 featherweight contender Alexander Volkanovski and #3 featherweight star Diego Lopes clash in the main event of UFC 314. While the world of mixed martial arts often stands in support of the Australian, there’s a chance the former champion might not win against Lopes. Even the famed UFC analyst Luke Thomas stated that ‘The Great’ is past his prime have lost the last 2 fights via brutal finishes.
On the other hand, the Brazilian fighter Lopes is riding a 5-fight winning streak. With the high chances of his victory, Lopes seems locked in and confident in his abilities. And if he actually wins the bout, the Brazilian apparently has a name in mind as his first title defense. In his UFC debut, Lopes faced Movsar and lost the bout via a unanimous decision. No doubt, he’s use this opportunity as a chance to redeem himself.
That’s what he stated in a conversation with MMA Junkie. Lopes said, “Of course, this fight for me is important because this guy beat me in the past. But now it’s different. It’s different things. I’m at the top, and this guy, too. Maybe we’ll fight for the title. I’m so excited for the next step, but my focus is on Volkanovski. I win the belt and I will ask the UFC for the fight with Movsar.”
Needless to say, White doesn’t have a reason to say no to Lopes if he becomes the new champion of the featherweight division. But if he fails, Volkanovski will become the champion for the third time. And it’s highly likely White will choose Evloev as the next title challenger, don’t you agree?
What are your thoughts on the current situation of the featherweight division? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
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