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Dana White broke the MMA internet with massive UFC 314 and UFC 315 card announcements, including confirmation of Ilia Topuria vacating his featherweight belt. Elsewhere, Henry Cejudo shared words of advice with Alexandre Pantoja.
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Dana White announces UFC 314 and UFC 315
In an Instagram Live on Wednesday, Dana White announced the main, co-main, and other fights for the UFC 314 and UFC 315 pay-per-view events.
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Scheduled for April 12, 2025, in Miami, Florida, UFC 314 will feature Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes as the headliner, with Michael Chandler vs. Paddy Pimblett serving as the co-main event. Volkanovski and Lopes will fight with the featherweight belt vacated by Ilia Topuria on the line.
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Take a look at the full main card below:
UFC 315, set for May 10, 2025, in Montreal, will see welterweight champion Belal Muhammad defending his title against Jack Della Maddalena.
Fans were surprised to see Shavkat Rakhmonov getting snubbed for the opportunity, but the fighter revealed that he could not compete that early because of an injury. He has been promised a fight against the winner of the title fight. Leon Edwards, who was originally supposed to face Maddalena on March 22, will not fight Sean Brady.
A women's flyweight title fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Manon Fiorot is slated for the co-main event.
Ilia Topuria vacates featherweight belt
The announcement of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes subsequently confirmed that Ilia Topuria had vacated the belt. Although Dana White said that the 'El Matador' doesn't have a fight booked yet, fans are speculating he will go up to lightweight and challenge Islam Makhachev. Ariel Helwani's latest report also points to the same.
Topuria has not opened up on the matter since the announcement, but he has been vocal about challenging for the 155-pound strap for a while now. He reacted to the situation with a cryptic, three-word post on Instagram, referencing Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning viral rap song "Not Like Us".
Produced as a diss track aimed at Drake, the song was performed by Lamar at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime.
Henry Cejudo has words of advice for Alexandre Pantoja
Henry Cejudo's dominance in the flyweight division once helped save the weight class. Although he has competed in the bantamweight division in his second stint, 'Triple C' is concerned with the "dry" state of the 125-pound roster.
Cejudo believes that as the champion, Alexandre Pantoja should step up and help sell fights; if required, he should consider turning heel as well:
"I’m super close to [Alexandre] Pantoja. He’s a great fighter. But I think sometimes you can create storylines because everybody is kind of dry at flyweight. Like there's no tussle... there's no storyline. I think it's his responsibility now to promote the weight division. And I mean it and I tell him as a brother, it's his job to sell the fight... maybe he needs to become the bad guy."
