Alexander Volkanovski retains title in masterful decision win over Diego Lopes at UFC 325 to match iconic Jose Aldo record

Alexander Volkanovski outclassed Diego Lopes to retain his featherweight title in the main event of UFC 325.

‘The Great’ is now tied with 145lb legend Jose Aldo for the most title defences in the division’s history with eight.

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Alexander The Great

Both men had their moments in the five-round headliner, but Volkanovski displayed technical brilliance to claim a unanimous decision win.

The victory was even more convincing than when Volkanovski first met Lopes at UFC 314, as two judges scored the contest 49-46 and a third ruled it 50-45.

Volkanovski, the only Australia-born champion in UFC history, was defending the featherweight title on home soil for the first time in his illustrious 14-year professional career.

He praised the raucous crowd at Qudos Bank Arena in his post-fight interview before revealing what’s next.

“I wanted to take him out and grab a hold of him, but he was strong — I didn’t want to stand with him for 25 minutes if I’m honest,” Volkanovski said.

The 37-year-old added that the winner of a top-ranked featherweight bout between Lerone Murphy and Movsar is likely to be his next move.

The victory over Lopes marks his 15th in the UFC since joining the promotion in 2016.

A former rugby league player before turning to the fight game, Volkanovski went 12 fights unbeaten at the start of his journey in Dana White’s promotion.

He is one of just four fighters, alongside Anderson Silva, Kamaru Usman and Khabib Nurmagomedov, to achieve this feat.

But ‘The Great’ isn’t just up there with the greats in the stats book, having cemented his status yet again as the world’s best featherweight at UFC 325.

UFC 325: Full Results

Main card

• Alexander Volkanovski def. Diego Lopes via unanimous decision – Featherweight
• Benoit Saint Denis def. Dan Hooker via second-round KO (punches) – Lightweight
• Mauricio Ruffy def. Rafael Fiziev via second-round KO (punches) – Lightweight
• Tallison Teixeira def. Tai Tuivasa via unanimous decision – Heavyweight
• Quillan Salkilld def. Jamie Mullarkey via first-round submission (neck crank) – Lightweight

Preliminary card

• Billy Elekana def. Junior Tafa via second-round submission (rear-naked choke) – Light heavyweight
• Cam Rowston def. Cody Brundage via second-round TKO (punches) – Middleweight
• Jacob Malkoun def. Torrez Finney via unanimous decision – Middleweight
• Jonathan Micallef def. Oban Elliot via second-round submission (rear-naked choke) – Welterweight

Season 4 Road To UFC Final Matchups

• Kaan Ofli def. Yizha via majority decision – Featherweight
• Dom Mar Fan def. Kim Sang-wook via unanimous decision – Lightweight
• Keiichiro Nakamura def. Sebastian Szalay via third-round KO (knee) – Featherweight
• Lawrence Lui def. Sulangrangbo via split decision – Bantamweight

Turning 38 in September, Volkanovski will no doubt continue to face questions of retirement — an idea has repeatedly played down.

Former UFC featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes, who fought Volkanovski in his final MMA fight, offered his thoughts on the Australian’s retirement conundrum when speaking to talkSPORT.com ahead of UFC 325.

“He’s getting to the point where, as much as you don’t want it to happen, it’s going to happen, but you have to end it sooner or later,” he said.

However, with Volkanovski showing he is still very much at the top of his game against Lopes, the champion definitely has plenty more to give in his title reign.

Before UFC 325, ‘The Great’ said that he’s not trying to ‘outdo’ Aldo in terms of matching his record, rather ‘trying to do my best and give myself a good legacy.’

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