The UFC made a slew of announcements including Ilia Topuria vacating the featherweight championship.
UFC CEO Dana White announced on Wednesday that Topuria will be stepping down as its 145-pound champion with the vacant title to be awarded to the winner of the UFC 314 main event between Alexander Volkanovski (26-4) and Diego Lopes (26-6).
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White revealed the full card for Miami on April 12 at the Kaseya Center, which includes a five-round lightweight contest between Michael Chandler (23-9) and Paddy Pimblett (22-3). The UFC 314 card consists of the promotional debut of four-time Bellator champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (36-7), who fights Yair Rodriguez (19-5, 1 NC).
White added that Topuria’s next fight will be announced soon. It is expected that the soon-to-be former featherweight champion will move up to lightweight.
Additionally, Dana White made several changes to upcoming cards. Jack Della Maddalena is no longer fighting Leon Edwards (22-4, 1 NC) on March 22 in London, England. Edwards’ new opponent is Sean Brady (17-1) in the five-round welterweight contest at The O2 Arena.
Della Maddalena (17-2) is being moved to the UFC 315 card on May 10 in Montreal as he is set to challenge Belal Muhammad (24-3, 1 NC) for the welterweight title at the Bell Centre.
Shavkat Rakhmonov shared that he was offered the fight with Muhammad first but would not be ready to fight by May 10 and states that he hopes to fight the winner before the end of 2025.
