UFC 325: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes 2 picks and predictions
See who we think will win in Sydney this weekend.
We have our second UFC numbered event in a row this weekend. How the times have changed! It’s not a PPV for folks in the States, but me and my brethern here in Canada are still having to shell out for it (as are many other international viewers).
This weekend’s card has some pretty decent attractions, though. The main event is a rematch of one of 2024’s best fights, with Alexander Volkanovski meeting Diego Lopes again and hoping to defend his UFC Featherweight title.
The co-main sees Benoit Saint-Denis looking to get firmly into the lightweight title picture as he takes on popular action fighter Dan Hooker. There’s also Mauricio Ruffy vs. Rafael Fiziev, which could be a lights out match-up on the feet. And there’s also the return of Tai Tuivasa. He’s taking on top prospect Tallison Teixeira.
Quillan Salkilld is also on the card. No joking here, I actually thought he might have killed Nasrat Haqparast in his last fight. He’s taking on Jamie Mullarkey, on short notice, here.
We’ve looked over these match-ups and made our picks below. We’re pretty good at that, given our performances last year.
In our first picks post of this year, Miguel reigned supreme; going a very impressive 9-2. That was one better than our new boy William Watts of Open Note Grappling. How did I do? It’s not important.
Scroll down to see who we are picking this week!
Leader board
Alexander Volkanovski (-142) vs. Diego Lopes (+120)
Miguel Class: As senseless as this rematch is, matchups in MMA have a tendency to be chaotic and unpredictable and Petr Yan’s recent upset victory over Merab Dvalishvili shows how a well-executed gameplan can flip what appears to be a nightmare matchup. While we’ve seen Volkanovski deal with this exact archetype of opponent time and time again (as Phil Mackenzie hilariously memed about on twitter), the champ is just vulnerable enough to find himself in dangerous positions in each one of these fights (save the Korean Zombie one).