Alexander Volkanovski turned back the clock to reclaim the UFC featherweight belt with a win over a much young Diego Lopes in April, but Patricio Pitbull doesn’t see “The Great” having another long reign in the division.
Pitbull, a former two-division champion in Bellator who faces Dan Ige in the main card of Saturday night’s UFC 318 in New Orleans, expects the 145-pound legend to struggle against one specific type of challenge going forward.
“A fight is a fight, obviously, but I see he doesn’t have a good chin anymore,” Pitbull said of Volkanovski during an interview with MMA Fighting. “He’s very athletic, he moves really well, has great gameplans and continues to be that complicated guy to fight, lands and walks away, gets you to the cage and holds you there, but if he’s fighting someone that hits hard and touches him, it will go badly. Someone with that style, [like] Aaron Pico, Jean Silva.”
Silva is 5-0 in the UFC with four knockouts and one submission and faces Lopes in the main event of Noche UFC 3 on Sept. 13. Pico enters the UFC after nine knockout in 13 victories under the Bellator and PFL banners, but had his UFC Abu Dhabi match with Movsar Evloev cancelled due to his opponent’s injury.
Pitbull admits he expected Lopes to be a tricky match-up in the main event of UFC 314, but Volkanovski had the perfect strategy to get back to the top after two consecutive brutal knockout defeats to Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria.
“I thought Diego Lopes could complicate things for him too had he pushed the pace, but the shorty one did the right game, in and out, so that’s the path,” Pitbull said. “A hard-hitting guy might take Volkanovski out. I don’t think Evloev takes his title, he won’t be able to do any damage to him. It really has to be someone more aggressive.”
Pitbull lost his octagon debut on the same card in April with a disappointing performance against Yair Rodriguez, but still sees himself re-entering the conversation for a shot at the gold with two wins.
“I have no time to waste,” Pitbull said. “They put me against a top-5 and now a top-12, so the path to the belt is open. We still have Volkanovski as the champion, Diego Lopes won’t fight for the belt now. Jean Silva is coming, and they will fight each other. Maybe Diego Lopes wins and slows down Jean Silva. If Jean Silva wins, maybe he takes a step ahead and fights for the title, I believe, but besides Jean Silva there’s also Evloev and Pico, who also came from Bellator.
“There’s also Aljamain Sterling, but these guys like to pick and choose fights and he’s boring, so maybe he won’t fight now. Arnold Allen just had surgery and is recovering. Dan Ige and I are fighting now, so this is a good moment for the division. Yair Rodrigues is having surgery, Diego Lopes just lost, so the title is close. With a good performance [at UFC 318] and one more win, I believe we might get an opportunity to be fighting for the belt.”
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