MIAMI – Alexander Volkanovski admits he didn’t expect Ilia Topuria to relinquish his UFC featherweight belt.
Topuria opted to leave his 145-pound title behind for a move up to lightweight. As a result, Volkanovski (26-5 MMA, 13-4 UFC) will battle Diego Lopes (26-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) for the vacant title in Saturday’s UFC 314 main event (ESPN+ pay-per-view) at Kaseya Center from Miami.
“The Great” figured Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) would attempt to chase dual-champion status.
“I was pretty surprised with him vacating,” Volkanovski told MMA Junkie and other reporters Wednesday at UFC 314 media day.