One of the harsh tenets of MMA is that the old guard is usually fed to the young. Talk about barbaric ends, talk about how unforgiving this sport is. To find out how unbelievably rapidly fortunes can change in the sport, you can look at Tony Ferguson and Anderson Silva. The former 185lbs kingpin was regarded as the undisputed GOAT with sixteen consecutive UFC wins and ‘Matrix’ like finishes. By the end of his run, ‘The Spider’ was a shadow of his former self. Talking about Ferguson, ‘El Cucuy’ once went unbeaten in 12 consecutive bouts that culminated in an interim title win in the toughest division of the promotion. However, the end was grim with Ferguson losing 8 on the trot before leaving the UFC earlier this year.

And many fear that Alexander Volkanovski is on that path. After all, the Aussie looked as unbeatable as anyone ever has in this sport before losing three out of the last four bouts starting with his UFC 284 Islam Makhachev clash in February 2023. Of course, although ‘Volk’ lost that fight via a decision, it was pretty damn close. Some, such as Joe Rogan and Volkanovski himself, are sure that the Aussie won the fight.

However, since then, the former featherweight champion has been knocked out cold in two consecutive fights. By Makhachev in their UFC 294 rematch and Ilia Topuria at UFC 298. This is why many are worried about how he will do in his upcoming UFC 314 featherweight title clash against the young, hungry, and destructive Diego Lopes. The question on everyone’s mind is simple. Could Volkanovski beat the Brazilian powerhouse and become the champ again? And former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has a very nuanced and intelligent answer.

“I feel like Conor [McGregor] is a big example of that [of a fighter having good momentum] when he was just running through people. [Alex] Pereira, as well, before his last fight. Right now, Diego Lopes is running that train. He put a beating on Ortega, okay. Seriously, that was brutal, bro, it was hard to watch… But Diego’s in a very very dangerous form right now, okay,” Whittaker said of the clash on his ‘MMArcade’ podcast.

“Pre, like, [Volkanovski-Makhachev 1] ‘Volk’, I think, beats Diego Lopes. Like ‘Volk’s skill set, and just his composure, his toughness, his grit, his fight IQ, his ability to fight in the Octagon is second to none, okay. He’s amazing, but again, with all the other factors we looked into– which Volk’ do we see?” he added.

As you can imagine, getting knocked out twice in four months has many worried that Volkanovski is over the hill. His chin, which has failed him twice now, is a real concern against the powerful concussive puncher that is Diego Lopes. The Brazilian, of course, has torn through the featherweight division, with three of his five UFC wins coming via first-round KO!

This is why, as ‘The Reaper’ pointed out, the result of Volkanovski-Lopes would depend on which version of the Aussie shows up. In fact, that is the exact position held by another UFC legend, who even predicted which version of Volkanovski we will see at UFC 314.

Henry Cejudo’s dire prediction for Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes UFC 314 clash

Former two-division UFC champion, Henry Cejudo, feels the previous, seemingly unbeatable version of Alexander Volkanovski is dead and buried. “I don’t think it’s the same Volk,” ‘Triple C’ told fan-favorite MMA YouTuber ‘The Schmo’ in a recent interview. “I personally think Diego Lopes is gonna beat him, I really do.”

This is a pretty fair prediction. As we talked about in the beginning of the article, this sport is no stranger to fighters who look head and shoulders above their peers getting stopped and never being the same again. But on the other hand, this is Alexander Volkanovski, who may still be the greatest 145-pounder to enter the Octagon.

This is why Cejudo wisely left the door open for Volkanovski to beat Lopes after all. Just because the Brazilian dynamo just doesn’t look as good as Topuria and Makhachev, who have a real claim to being the very best in the sport at the moment. So while the former double champ does think that the old Volkanovski is gone, he thinks old man ‘Volk’ could still be good enough to beat Lopes. “But if Volkanovski does get it done, he gets it done. It’s not Ilia Topuria that he’s going to [have to] beat,” Cejudo declared. What do you think about Robert Whittaker’s take on the Volkanovski-Lopes clash?