UFC 314: Volkanovski vs. Lopes picks and predictions

See who we think will win this Saturday on this shockingly stacked card.

Art by Chris Rini.

Did Christmas come early?

This Saturday we have a STACKED UFC card! I know, shocking, right?

UFC 314 has Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes for the vacant UFC featherweight title in the main event. That’s awesome. And the co-main is Michael Chandler vs. Paddy Pimblett. That’s bonkers.

Rounding out the rest of the main card is Yair Rodriguez vs. Patricio Pitbull, Bryce ‘Seat-belts cause cancer, the world is an inverted ziggurat and Hitler is my fishing buddy’ Mitchell vs. Jean Silva and Nikita Krylov vs. Dominick Reyes.

All these fights are great on paper and many could generate some wicked highlights (come on Jean, please).

The prelims are pretty good, too. We’ve got Darren Elkins vs. Julian Erosa there (and there will be blood in that one). We’ve also got Chase Hooper vs. Jim Miller, Yan Xiaonan vs. Virna Jandiroba and Dan Ige vs. Sean Woodson. This is going to be fun!

And if you’re wagering on these fights… maybe you want to see our picks? I mean, I did go 15-1 last week. Scroll down to see who me and the rest of the crew are picking to get their hands raised come Saturday night.

If you are betting, though, please please please do so responsibly.

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Alexander Volkanovski (-150) vs. Diego Lopes (+125)

Miguel Class: All the questions heading into this surround the former champion. Volk is coming off two brutal knockout losses and is on the wrong side of 35, but Lopes is an easy enough matchup that even a diminished Volk should be well equipped to shut him out Lopes certainly has a puncher’s chance and will threaten to make Volkanovski pay for charging recklessly, but he doesn’t have much in the way of a process and Volkanovski is perhaps the smartest fighter we’ve ever seen. Lopes will look to counter, but Volkanovski has an incredible, hard-to-read jab that he can safely lance Lopes with while circling at range. And of course Volkanovksi’s skills on the mat are likely just as good as they’ve always been, meaning he’ll brutalize Lopes from top position if the Brazilian-Mexican looks to play guard as he usually does.