UFC 314 is shaping up to be one of the year’s most stacked events. The main event on April 12 at the Kaseya Center in Miami will feature Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes vying for the vacant featherweight title. We also have Michael Chandler vs. Paddy Pimblett for a five-round lightweight fight. The card is stacked with more exciting bouts but what has really stunned fans is Dana White’s decision to put Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire—one of the biggest signings in recent history—on the prelims of the night!

The legendary former Bellator two-division champion will make his highly awaited UFC debut at 37 against former interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez in the preliminary fight. While it is normal for high-profile debuts to appear on the main card, the head honcho and the UFC have used Pitbull’s presence to bolster the event’s early stages.

And make no mistake. The fighter is pumped up for a big night. “I’m arriving with vast experience and ready to bother the division. I’m bringing some heat and willing to take the belt back to Brazil,” he said in February. Coincidentally (or not), his debut will happen on the same event which will ultimately decide UFC’s new featherweight champion—Brazilian Diego Lopes will face former titleholder Alexander Volkanovski. But regardless of who wins the title, Freire is sure he will face the champion soon. “At this point in my career, I’ve fought every kind of fighter and my will is simply to fight whoever has the belt, whether that’s Diego or Volkanovski.”

Now, given Freire’s status as one of the most decorated fighters to ever enter the UFC, many expected him to land a prime main-card spot for UFC 314. However, the stacked nature of UFC 314 ensures that even a fight of this magnitude lands right before the pay-per-view begins. Along with Freire vs. Rodriguez, the UFC 314 preliminaries feature a number of high-level fights. Here are all the fights booked for UFC 314:

Main Card, 10 p.m. ET, ESPN+ PPV

• Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes (vacant featherweight title fight)
• Michael Chandler vs. Paddy Pimblett
• Bryce Mitchell vs. Jean Silva
• Carlos Prates vs. Geoff Neal
• Nikita Krylov vs. Dominick Reyes

Preliminary Card, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN & ESPN+

• Yair Rodriguez vs. Patricio Pitbull
• Dan Ige vs. Sean Woodson
• Yan Xiaonan vs. Virna Jandiroba
• Jim Miller vs. Chase Hooper

Early Preliminary Bouts (Bout order TBD)

• Darren Elkins vs. Julian Erosa
• Alberto Montes vs. Roberto Romero
• Michal Oleksiejczuk vs. Sedriques Dumas
• Mitch Raposo vs. Sumudaerji
• Tresean Gore vs. Marco Tulio
• Nora Cornolle vs. Hailey Cowan

Interesting Fact: UFC 314 will feature Patricio Freire and also his former rival Michael Chandler. They previously fought in 2019 at Bellator 221. The result? ‘Pitbull’ defeated ‘Iron’ in round 1 via TKO (punches) in 61 seconds. Freire famously beat Chandler to capture the Bellator lightweight belt, avenging his brother Patricky in the process.

Both men will compete in the same UFC event, with Chandler meeting Paddy Pimblett in the co-main event. UFC 314’s prelims may be set before the main event, but with such a strong lineup, fans will be tuning in from the start. In fact, they are already all praise for the event.

Fans root for Dana White’s decision to stack up the UFC 314 prelims!

As soon as fans explored how stacked the UFC 314 prelim lineup is, they took to social media to share their reactions. With such a deep roster, many have suggested the prelims could pass as a main card event for any other pay-per-view. So, as expected, they took to the comments to reveal how hyped up they were for the event and how the head honcho has possibly booked the best UFC fight card ever. Fans wrote:

• “That’s how good that dang card is man… absolutely STACKED.”
• “How are ANY of these fights in the prelims lmao.”

Well, this is certainly a nice turn of events considering UFC 313 was criticized for being weak. The main event (Pereira versus Ankalaev) and the co-main event (Gaethje versus Fiziev) gained the most attraction, whereas the rest of the card seemed underwhelming. Similarly, UFC 312 was criticized for being weak outside of the two title bouts in the main (Dricus du Plessis vs Sean Strickland) and co-main event (Zhang Weili vs Tatiana Suarez). However, UFC 314 will change the narrative.

• “That’s a whole main card; it just need a title fight main event.”

Some fans took the opportunity to praise Dana White‘s business acumen. With a stacked main event, the prelims usually go unnoticed. But if the head honcho manages to convince top fighters to feature in the prelims, the UFC could make fans tune in to watch the entirety of the event rather than just focusing on the main card.

• “A stacked prelim card doesn’t hurt anything as long as the main card doesn’t suffer. And this way Pitbull will be available to more eyes in his debut since not everyone buys PPVs.”
• “It’s to get people to tune into the prelims. PPV will sell without this on it; this brings people to raise the ESPN ratings.”

Well, it sure looks like fans love the lineup for UFC 314. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments.