Ilia Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) has relinquished his featherweight title with plans of moving up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev for the 155-pound strap. UFC CEO Dana White announced the news last night, stating that Topuria’s next fight will be announced soon.

With the 145-pound belt vacated, former featherweight kingpin Alexander Volkanovski will now take on rising star Diego Lopes for the title in the UFC 314 main event on April 12 in Miami.

The co-main event will be a five-round lightweight scrap between ‘Iron’ Michael Chander and Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett. Chandler, the former three-time Bellator lightweight champion, is off a unanimous-decision loss (49-46, 49-45, 49-46) to Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira in the UFC 309 co-main event last November at MSG in NYC.

DraftKings opened the 36-year-old Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) as a -130 favorite vs. Lopes, but the number had moved to -155 as of Thursday afternoon. Lopes (26-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) was a +130 underdog.

BetRivers had Volkanovski at -167 with the 30-year-old Brazilian at +135 odds on the comeback. The legendary Aussie successfully defended the featherweight championship five times after winning it away from Max Holloway via UD (48-47, 48-47, 50-45) at UFC 245.

Volkanovski earned the title shot with wins over former featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes via second-round knockout and a UD triumph (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) over ex-145-pound champ Jose Aldo. Then he defended it with victories over Holloway (twice more, three times total), Brian Ortega, The Korean Zombie and Yair Rodriguez.

When given the opportunity to become a double champ by moving up to lightweight, Volkanovski lost a UD to Makhachev (48-47, 49-46, 48-47) at UFC 284 in February of 2023. After going back down to featherweight and besting Rodriguez to retain the belt, he was offered a rematch with Makhachev on 11 days of notice when Oliveira was forced to pull out of his rematch with Islam due to a cut over his eye.

Volkanovski accepted the short notice offer, but he was finished via first-round KO (head kick and punches) at UFC 294. Next, he went back down to 145 to defend his belt, only to lose to Topuria by second-round KO.

Therefore, Volkanovski is on a 1-3 slide in his last four scraps, but let’s remember that Makhachev and Topuria have a combined career record of 43-1.

Lopes is on a five-fight winning streak since dropping his Octagon debut to still-undefeated Movsar Evloev via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a Fight of the Night at UFC Newark on Nov. 18 of 2022. He had first-round finishes in his first three UFC victories before winning UDs over Dan Ige and Brian Ortega.

DraftKings opened the 38-year-old Chandler (23-9 MMA, 2-4 UFC) as a -135 favorite late last night. However, Pimblett (22-3 MMA, 6-0 UFC) became the -120 ‘chalk’ at 6:30 p.m. Eastern early Thursday evening, leaving Chandler as an even-money underdog.

Chandler has only had his hand raised twice since his UFC tenure started in 2021, but he’s been involved in six absolute thrillers. Both of his KO wins over Dan Hooker and Tony Ferguson earned him Performance of the Night bonuses, and three of his four defeats (vs. Justin Gaethje, vs. Dustin Poirier and vs. Oliveira 2) have garnered Fight of the Night honors.

The 30-year-old Pimblett has three first-round finishes and has won four POTN bonuses in his six career Octagon appearances. He’s off a first-round submission win over King Green this past summer at UFC 304 in Manchester, England.

BetOnline has installed Makhachev as a -250 favorite in a potential showdown with Topuria, who is a +210 underdog.