Aljamain Sterling has a definitive prediction for Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes at UFC 314.
Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) takes on Lopes (26-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) for the vacant featherweight belt in the April 12 main event at Kaseya Center in Miami.
Sterling traded barbs with Lopes and his manager on X after saying that Movsar Evloev deserved to be in the title fight more. But Sterling insists that his prediction of a dominant Volkanovski victory isn’t biased.
“I think Volkanovski is going to put the beats on Lopes,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “I would have said that more respectfully had him and his manager not tried to attack me as if I said anything disrespectful to them. I would have been more politically correct about it, but I truly do think Volk is going to put the beats on him. I’m going to give them the reason why Volk is going to whoop that ass. Volkanovski is coming with a vengeance. He is in phenomenal shape. What he does great vs. what Diego Lopes does great is not the same.
“Volk is super well rounded. He’s strong in every single department. Maybe not a submission specialist, but he’s very hip to the grappling game where Diego Lopes is a very good grappler in terms of submission threats, but when it comes to striking, he is an all-or-nothing guy in the first round. There is no pacing about Diego Lopes. The best fight he’s had so far to date where he’s looked technically composed and most technically sharp is the fight with Brian Ortega.”
Sterling went on to break down Lopes’ other UFC wins and how he wasn’t impressed with what he saw. He only gives Lopes a chance to beat Volkanovski early, otherwise he sees him getting drowned in the championship rounds.
“You watch a lot of his other fights, short notice with Dan Ige; Dan Ige is a dog, though,” Sterling said. “His fight with Sodiq Yusuff, I don’t really rate that one too much. No disrespect to Sodiq. He’s an all-or-nothing blitz type of fighter. He runs at you, sprints at you in the first minute or two, and if he clips you, he smells blood in the water, and he’s very, very good at finishing fights from there.
“If that is his game plan against Volkanovski, and he has no Plan B, Diego Lopes is going to lose this fight. There’s no other way to say it. He’s not going five rounds toe-to-toe with Alex Volkanovski. It’s just not happening. I never said he can’t clip Volk. His game plan is to get him out of there in Round 1 because if he doesn’t, the longer that fight goes, I think Volk does this (goes up), and Lopes does this (goes down) in a five-round fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 314.
