Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will fight Diego Lopes for a second time in the main event of UFC 325 on February 1st in Sydney, Australia.

The event follows hot on the heels of UFC 324 a week earlier as the promotion looks to get the official start of the Paramount+ era off to a big start.

This rematch will raise some eyebrows though given that Volkanovski only just defeated Lopes by unanimous decision back in April to claim the vacant 145lb title.

Lopes had his moments in the fight, but it was widely accepted that Volkanovski had rightfully won on the scorecards.

The 30-year-old Lopes had since earned a spinning back elbow TKO finish over the highly regarded Jean Silva in September, but with the 19-0 Movsar Evloev currently being ranked No.1 in the division and the also undefeated Lerone Murphy coming off a spinning elbow KO too, this wasn’t the fight most people had expected to see next for Volkanovski.

“Missing the opportunity to fight one of featherweight’s GOATs is what hurts me the most,” Murphy wrote after the news was announced. “It’s not about who’s the best anymore. It’s about who’s most popular.”

It’s hard to disagree with that assessment as it does feel as if this fight has been put together to bolster the early Paramount+ schedule due to Lopes having more name value.

At the same time it’s worth pointing out that if the matchmaking was fairer and based off the official rankings then Murphy would still have been snubbed in favor of Evloev, though that would likely have been easier to accept.

At this stage Volkanovski vs. Lopes 2 is the only fight attached to the UFC 325 event, which will air at a new start time of 9pm ET (2am UK).