These fights need to happen after UFC 314

After an action-packed night of fights, which included a king regaining his crown and a coronation of a star, the curtain has officially closed on UFC 314.

However, with every event comes its takeaways, so it’s time to break down what seems to be the clear front runner for Card of the Year so far and see who the participants should take on next.

Alexander Volkanovski vs Movsar Evloev

After a yearlong layoff, featherweight GOAT and everyone’s favorite celebrity chef, Alex Volkanovski, regained his crown with a decision win over Diego Lopes.   

For the first two rounds, up until he got dropped, it felt like I was watching the Volk of old that absolutely clobbered The Korean Zombie and put on a clinic against Max Holloway.

When he got dropped by Diego, I got war flashbacks from the second Makhachev fight and the Topuria fight. I thought that he was done for, but he survived until the end of the round. He used his veteran experience against the newer Lopes to earn a 49-46 on mine and two out of three judge's scorecards, regaining the belt he previously held for four years.   

Man, I’m getting old. I remember being 13 years old, glued to the TV on a December Night in 2019, watching Volanovski upset Max Holloway to start his title reign and having no idea of the greatness that I would bear witness to in years to come.   

However, all good things must come to an end, and although Volk looked vintage at moments Saturday night. I hope he’s able to get one last defense against Movsar and then ride off into the sunset on top.

Diego Lopes vs Yair Rodriguez

  These two were taking pictures together and hanging out like a month ago, but then Thursday night, at the press conference, they had beef and almost brawled on stage??? The hatred between these two is deep, and on top of accusing Lopes of jumping one of his teammates, Rodriguez also accused Lopes of being a fraudulent Mexican.

Even if these two didn’t have beef, this would still be a needle-moving matchup. These two both have extremely fan-friendly fight styles, with Rodriguez’s flashy karate style and Diego Lopes’ seemingly effortless blend of striking and BJJ.

Yair dominated Bellator legend Patricio Pitbull Saturday night and called for a title shot after, but Yair got dominated and TKO’d when he fought Volk in July of 2023, so he is no position to jump the line ahead of guys like Movsar Evloev or Jean Silva. However, if Yair can get a convincing win over Diego Lopes, he’ll put himself right back into title contention.

On the other hand, if Volk does hang up the gloves after his next, then Lopes might be right back in a title fight with a win over Rodriguez.

Paddy Pimblett vs Ilia Topuria

Speaking of random beef, these two decided they hated each other at the UFC 282 press conference in December of 2022 and have been throwing shade and snide remarks at each other whenever they get the chance.

Paddy melted through Michael Chandler Saturday night, securing a round three TKO and putting his name in the hat for title contention in a stacked UFC lightweight division.

Ilia Topuria became something of a legend killer in the featherweight division becoming the first, and currently only, fighter to beat Volk at featherweight and became the only fighter to ever knockdown and knockout Max Holloway.

Earlier this year “La Leyenda” decided he wanted a change of scenery and announced he was vacating his featherweight title to move up to lightweight, so now is the perfect time for him to take bragging rights over Paddy the Baddy.