Alexander Volkanovski thinks he’s the worst matchup for Diego Lopes following their rematch.
At UFC 325, Volkanovski defeated Diego Lopes to successfully defend his featherweight title in a bout that was fairly just like their first encounter the 12 months prior.
The challenger had a giant opportunity on his hands to avenge his loss in a clash that received some pushback from the fans.
While Volkanovski has previously praised Lopes’ improvements, he believes that his opponent was all the time going to be fighting an uphill battle in Sydney earlier this month.
- LATEST NEWS: Why Max Holloway isn’t scared to grapple submission king Charles Oliveira at UFC 326
Alexander Volkanovski thinks he’s the worst possible matchup for Diego Lopes
Alexander Volkanovski thinks Diego Lopes can have missed his likelihood to turn out to be champion due to the man that was standing in front of him on each occasions.
Lopes had said that UFC 325 could possibly be his last opportunity to win the 145 pound gold against an opponent that had already beaten him.
Volkanovski said during an appearance on the MightyCast that his challenger’s possibilities of winning were all the time going to be decreased by the stylistic matchup he found himself in.
“I feel bad because I’m probably the worst possible matchup for the guy simply because of my IQ and my footwork and whatnot that he just couldn’t handle,” he told Demetrious Johnson.
“So, now he’s just about wasted his likelihood on the title against me in a fast turnaround where I used to be probably the one guy that may do 50 minutes and just have him not knowing what’s occurring.”
That being said, Volkanovski doesn’t think that the choice to do that rematch lower than a 12 months on from their first fight helped Lopes either despite the indisputable fact that it gave him a shot at redemption.
‘The Great’ made reference to how his opponent was unable to chop the Octagon off on each occasions which made his task loads easier despite this being a transparent area that the Brazilian needed to enhance on.
“It was literally like he was told to be patient and use his jab but there was no actual strategy behind it… Hearing him say that he’s grown a lot, I’m taking a look at him such as you haven’t,” Volkanovski said. “I don’t mean this in a foul way I just mean you haven’t showed me any improvement. I felt like what you probably did in the primary fight was higher than that.”
- LATEST NEWS: Kamaru Usman: UFC matchmakers ‘feel otherwise’ about booking Islam Makhachev fight next
The stats from each fights support Alexander Volkanovski’s thoughts on Diego Lopes
With regards to output and distance management, Alexander Volkanovski is one in all the highest the game has ever seen with regard to implementing each effectively.
This showed in the primary fight with Diego Lopes, where he outlanded his opponent by 158 significant strikes to only 63.
The one concern heading into the rematch is that the Brazilian did produce the only biggest strike of the bout when he dropped ‘The Great’ within the third round.
Their stats from UFC 325 suggest, a minimum of on paper, that Lopes did make some improvements, having only been outlanded by 98 significant strikes to 70 the second time around.
| Alexander Volkanovski vs Diego Lopes stats | Significant strikes | Total strikes |
| First fight – UFC 314 | Volkanovski – 158 of 259 (61%) Lopes – 63 of 194 (32%) | Volkanovski – 165 of 266 Lopes – 71 of 203 |
| Second fight – UFC 325 | Volkanovski – 98 of 160 (61%) Lopes – 70 of 158 (44%) | Volkanovski – 112 of 178 Lopes – 74 of 162 |
Nonetheless, the challenger still only won two of a possible 15 rounds on the three scorecards, suggesting that even in a more in-depth contest, Volkanovski simply has his number.