Alexander Volkanovski has admitted losing sight during his title victory against Diego Lopes at UFC 314.
Nonetheless, the 35-year-old Australian created history following his main event win, and things could still get better.
Volkanovski, 36, stood toe-to-toe with Lopes and the pair went to war as the former edged a convincing unanimous decision.
In doing so, ‘The Great’ became the first male fighter aged 35 or older to win a UFC title fight at any weight class below welterweight as he was crowned the featherweight champion for the second time.
He is also now just one title fight victory away from equalling Jose Aldo‘s record for the most in the featherweight division with eight.
Volkanovski fought back from a second-round knockdown to get the better of his Brazilian opponent, with all three judges scoring the contest in his favour.
Lopes cracked Volkanovski with a thunderous right hand that floored the Australian, but he recovered well and cruised to victory.
The bout was so eye-catching that UFC CEO Dana White awarded both men a $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus.
Speaking to MainEventTV afterwards, the newly crowned champion looked bruised and battered, and admitted Lopes’ punch caused his vision to suddenly disappear.
“I completely lost vision in my left eye,” Volkanovski said.
“It was a good shot. I couldn’t see and I was just trying to get it back, but it was completely gone.
“It slowly came back a little bit. For the rest of the fight I could, at least, see a bit of a blur, which helped.
UFC 314 – results
Main card
Alexander Volkanovski beat Diego Lopes – Unanimous Decision
Paddy Pimblett beat Michael Chandler – TKO Round Three
Yair Rodriguez beat Patricio Pitbull – Unanimous Decision
Jean Silva beat Bryce Mitchell – Submission Round Two
Dominick Reyes beat Nikita Krylov – KO Round One
“Because it went from nothing – I was like, ‘Oh s*** this ain’t good’ -but then it got a little bit better so I could understand the vision and stuff.”
Volkanovski is now the champion at 145 pounds for the second time in his nine-year UFC career.
He won the featherweight title for the first time by defeating Max Holloway in 2019 before defending it in a rematch seven months later.
‘The Great’ then retained his title against Brian Ortega, ‘The Korean Zombie’ and Holloway again, before making a move up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev for his title.
Volkanovski suffered a close unanimous decision defeat to Makhachev in their first fight, but was brutally knocked out in the second, which came after he moved back down to featherweight again to defend his belt against Yair Rodriguez.
After he was knocked out by Makhachev, the 36-year-old suffered a second consecutive defeat to Ilia Topuria and dropped the title.
Many thought his MMA career could be nearing an end after that defeat, but Volkanovski proved he’s going nowhere after becoming champion once again at UFC 314.
‘The Great’ addressed his critics when speaking in his post-fight Octagon interview with Joe Rogan.
“I think the message was that a lot of people counted me out,” he said.
“[I was] coming off of two knockout losses, [people were saying], ‘the 35-year-old curse, 36 years old etc.’
“I[I had] a big break, [and to] come back to beat a gun like Lopes who came and brought it feels good.
“Adversity is a privilege, you hear people talking about it all the time. It truly is. This moment is incredible.”
Lopes suffered his first defeat in seven UFC bouts, having gone the previous six undefeated, but asserted he will be back soon.
