Ever since Ilia Topuria defeated Alexander Volkaovski at UFC 298, his future has been in limbo. On his YouTube channel, he shed light on the situation by confessing, “I’m getting stuck in training. We don’t know exactly what’s going on just yet.” While many expected a rematch against Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria, the Spanish-Georgian fighter has set his eyes on moving to the lightweight category in order to face Islam Makhachev.

So does that mean there is no one available for ‘Volk’? Well, that’s where Diego Lopes has come to the rescue. Taking to his X account, the 29-year-old fighter has called out Alexander Volkanovski for a fight. Mentioning the fact that Topuria is switching his weight class, the Brazilian asked the 36-year-old to face him instead. He even offered that the Australian choose the date and event as he wrote, “@alexvolkanovski, if Ilia is going to 155, let’s meet in the Octagon. You can pick the date and location.” 

It is worth noting that now that Topuria wishes to jump weight classes, the UFC featherweight division could be gearing up for an interim title fight. The Spaniard wants to fight former lightweight champ Charles Oliveira if Makhachev is not available.

For the past two months, Diego Lopes has wanted an interim featherweight title fight against ‘Volk’ at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia. Even during an interview with Ariel Helwani, the Brazilian revealed that major plans were already in motion to set the fight between him and Volkanovski, with the 36-year-old already accepting the challenge.

He said, “Ilia mentioned on Saturday night that he wanted to take some time off. Also, UFC mentioned they’re working on a date for Spain. While this is all going on, it would make the most sense for me to just fight ‘Volk’ in Sydney for the interim title. ‘Volk’ has already suggested this. I’ve already agreed to it. Let’s just do it.” So it looks like we might actually get to see this fight. However, fans aren’t too thrilled to see it come to fruition. In fact, many were quick to let their thoughts be known in the comments.

Fans rally against the Diego Lopes vs. Alexander Volkanovski fight

As soon as Diego Lopes sent the challenge to Volkanovski, fans were quick to root for another rising star in the division who deserves the interim title shot more than the Australian. So who is it? It’s none other than Movsar Evloev. The Russian fighter last met Diego Lopes at UFC 288 and won the fight via decision. Since then, fans have been waiting for a rematch. So now that Lopes is calling out Alexander Volkanovski, a man who has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights, fans quickly called Lopes out for ducking a fight against Evloev. Taking to the comments, they wrote, “Ducking Evloev,” “I don’t care if you dislike mosvar. He is next,” and “Movsar / Lopes 2 makes the most sense, even tho movsar beat [Lopes] the first time, lopes wasn’t near the level of fighter he is now.”

More commenters chimed in, claiming that nobody deserves an interim title shot more than Movsar Evloev. After all, the fighter recently proved his might again against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 310. As a result, many more fans claimed that the only man worthy of getting that interim title was the 19-0 Russian. Expressing their thoughts, they wrote comments such as, “Movsar just beat Aljo, Allen and beat Lopes. Movsar deserves the title shot next instead,” and “Nobody else but Movsar wid the belt.”

However, not every fan was against the idea of a fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes. In fact, contrary to the majority of the comments, some users felt like promoting the Lopes and Volkanovski fight instead. Taking to the comments, they hyped up the fight and let the UFC know that pairing them up was a good idea. They wrote, “This would be such a banger,” “Lopes vs. Volk will absolute violence,” and “Make it in Australia and I’ll book my tickets.” Well, it surely looks like some fans really want the fight to happen. But what do you think? Who do you believe should be fighting for the interim title next once Ilia Topuria leaves? Let us know in the comments.