The first high-profile title rematch of 2026 will headline Saturday’s UFC 325 in Sydney. Local superstar Alexander Volkanovski, who grew up an hour and a half from Sydney, captured the then-vacant UFC featherweight belt for a third time against Diego Lopez at UFC 314 last April. Just eight months later, Lopez is back and looking to flip the script.

Lopez and Volkanovski will meet again in a rematch that the panel of former fighters, trainers and analysts won’t see eye to eye on. The project is divided into another masterclass from Volkanovski and an early morning session courtesy of Lopez.

featherweight title match

taken by experts

Volkanovski looked good in his last fight with Lopez. Diego will have to throw caution to the wind and be willing to get knocked out in order to get the shot that puts Volkanovski away. I don’t think he can beat Volkanovski by submission or decision, so he needs to get a knockout here. To do this, you have to put yourself in a dangerous position and say to yourself: As it turns out, Volkanovski would be far too good anywhere for Lopez’s plan to work. — Dustin Poirier

Volkanovski won last time, but was unable to defeat Lopez. The first bout looked pretty easy for Volkanovski, but if Lopez can get back on his feet he’ll be able to put together better combinations. He has powers that can cause problems for Volkanovski. Volkanovski is a gamer. He’s willing to fight anyone and challenge himself. But Lopez isn’t here to challenge you, he’s here to hurt you. I think there are situations in this fight where he could hurt Volkanovski. Diego will put together a string of violence that will eventually catch up with Volkanovski. — Din Thomas

Lopez is younger, stronger and faster than Volkanovski. I think he will make the necessary adjustments for the rematch. Volkanovski came close to being knocked out several times in the first fight, but bounced back on his own. The only difference now is that more time has passed and Volkanovski is even older. In the first match, Lopez seemed to think he was going to catch Volkanovski with a big shot and take him out, but when that didn’t happen, Lopez had to reset. This time he has to be more patient. I love Volkanovski’s determination, but the time between games doesn’t help him and it definitely hurts Lopez. — Anthony Smith

We’ve seen young, hungry fighters in this sport suffer high-profile losses and come back even better. That may be the case with Lopez. After an early loss to Movsar Evloev in 2023, Lopez reacted last year by entering his first title fight in tears. Volkanovski also bounced back from the loss. After suffering KO losses to Islam Makhachev and Ilya Topria, it looked like the beginning of the end. However, Volkanovski took time out between matches and came back as healthy as ever. Diego is dangerous, but Volkanovski knows the risk and will have the right plan to defend his title. It will be a tougher fight with more adversity than the first matchup, but ultimately Volkanovski will come through. — Michael Chiesa