Like their first fight at UFC 314, Diego Lopes was able to hurt Alexander Volkanovski in their rematch at UFC 325, but was ultimately outstruck for five rounds. While Lopes had some moments in the fight, that was not enough for him to get the win. Kamaru Usman thought the Brazilian-Mexican lacked urgency for a title fight, especially when Lopes is coming off a loss.

Usman wanted to see some change in his fighting style instead of toning down his pace. Although Diego Lopes managed to secure a flash knockdown in the third round with a check hook, Volkanovski still dominated the fight overall with better accuracy. Official UFC stats of the fight reveal that the champion out-landed Lopes 98 to 70 in significant strikes. Post-fight, a humble Volkanovski acknowledged the challenge, stating, “It ain’t getting any easier, I can tell you that… I wanted to take him out, I wanted to grab a hold of him and put him down, but he was strong.”

Kamaru Usman breaks down Diego Lopes’ mistakes in loss to Alexander Volkanovski

“I saw the change, but it just didn’t work out because he was being more measured. He saw the kicks a lot more to where he was stepping back from that low kick and the calf kicks, and he was able to read those a lot better, and he wasn’t just in the fire going crazy right away, and head hunting right away. But I feel like he held himself back so much that he changed his style of fight,” Kamaru Usman said in the Pound-4-Pound podcast with Henry Cejudo.

As seen in the fight, Lopes did not initiate engagement by throwing punches or by going for a takedown. After dropping Volknovski at one moment in the match, he did not follow that up with more punches, which could have put the champion in trouble. While Usman termed that as a ‘measured’ approach, it allowed the Australian to land more significant strikes and get the win.

“I just felt like, if you’re not going to press a guy like Volk and use some offensive wrestling like Islam (Makhachev) did, then I believe it’s very, very difficult to fight a guy like Volkanovski because you can’t doubt this guy,” Kamaru Usman added. “He’s so intelligent, and for a guy that little to be that intelligent to where he’s able to jab, inside kick, move, move, jab, inside kick, and jump guillotine.

After the fight, Lopes was taken to the hospital, and it was later revealed that he had broken both his feet in the match. That might have been one of the reasons for his restricted approach.

Alexander Volkanovski praises Diego Lopes but highlights a gap in five-round IQ

Known for his fight IQ, future UFC Hall of Famer Alexander Volkanovski had some words of advice for Diego Lopes after their fight. “He’s still got a well-rounded game when it comes to everything, knowing all aspects. He’s gonna have to put it all together and then won’t have to rely on his chin.”

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He added, “It’s just unfortunate that he had to fight me for the two title fights. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I know how to work the Octagon, footwork, I can do all these things and take advantage of that with him, a lot of the other guys won’t be able to do that for 25 minutes. They won’t be able to make the adjustments that I can.”

While the rematch did not deliver, ‘Volk’ created history by defending the featherweight title for a record seven times, thus tying Jose Aldo. Volkanovski will likely face the winner of Lerone Murphy vs. Movsar Evloev in his next title defense. As for Lopes, he’ll likely have to go on another impressive win streak before earning another shot at the belt.

With new challengers waiting for him, who do you think will face ‘The Great’ for the featherweight title next?