UFC 325 Predictions (01-02-2026)

UFC 325: Volkanovski vs. Lopes 2 is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on February 1, 2026, at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

The event will mark the promotion’s eighth visit to Sydney and first since UFC 312 in February 2025.

A UFC Featherweight Championship rematch between reigning two-time champion Alexander Volkanovski and former title challenger Diego Lopes is scheduled to headline the event. The pair previously met at UFC 314 in April 2025, where Volkanovski captured the vacant championship with a unanimous decision victory.

The Main Card will also feature bouts between Dan Hooker and Benoit Saint-Denis and Rafael Fiziev vs Mauricio Ruffy, which we will also cover in this article.

Number #9 ranked UFC Lightweight Rafael Fiziev was able to redeem himself lately, finally ending 3 fights losing skid. The Ataman looked unstoppable until he faced now current UFC Lightweight Interim Champion Justin Gathje who won via decision.

Later R.Fiziev made an unfortunate return in a bout versus Mateusz Gamrot which was stopped due to R.Fiziev’s injury. Despite that, in 2025 the fighter got his rematch versus J.Gaethje but once again suffered a loss in a similar fashion via unanimous decision 29-28.

However, the second half of the year was more fortunate as R.Fiziev took on Ignacio Bahamondes who was on 3 fights winning streak prior to the fight. The Ataman showed his superior striking skills and even took the opponent down on every single attempt earning a well deserved 30-27 decision victory.

Mauricio Ruffy is deemed as one of the hottest prospects of the UFC after finishing several opponents with flashy KO’s, but recently his hype train got derailed. The Brazilian made his way into the organisation through DWCS and made his official UFC debut in May, 2024.

On his debut ‘One Shot’ showed everyone why it is his nickname ending Jamie Mullarkey with a vicious first round flying knee finish. Next, Ruffy went to a decision versus James Llantop, but won every round.

Then he returned to the octagon in 2025 and did it with a bang. M.Ruffy got scheduled against UFC veteran and boxing expert Bobby King Green and demolished him in the first round with one of the best KO’s of the year landing a spinning heel kick.

Next Ruffy went on to fight Benoit Saint Denis as a pretty huge favourite, but looked nothing like himself. The Frenchman put an early pressure on the Brazilian and eventually finished him on the ground with a rear naked choke.

By fighting style this is a very intriguing fight due to the both fighters being elite level strikers and having similar advantage. However, R.Fiziev holds way more experience over the opponent as he has fought many top fighters both – strikers and grapplers. M.Ruffy beat only one ranked opponent so far which was B.Green who had a record of 13 wins and 11 losses before the fight.

Rafael Fiziev got KO’ed only once in his whole pro MMA career , which was back in 2019, and since then proved to us multiple times that he can stand and throw down against the likes of Justin Gaethje etc., giving us a solid reasons to backing him up to win in this fight.

#6 ranked UFC Lightweight Dan Hooker this year counts his 12 years in the organisation and is about to have his 24th fight under the promotion. The Hangman very recently was likely one fight away from the title shot, but was not able to put up a fight against Arman Tsarukyan.

D.Hooker got dominated on the ground, surprisingly survived the first round, but finished in the 2nd with an arm triangle. However, we can’t count out this fighter as from 2022 to 2024 he won 3 straight fights while being underdogs including such names as Mateusz Gamrot and Jalin Turner.

Benoit Saint Denis incredible 5 fights winning streak was stopped in 2024 by Dustin Poirier, after the former interim champion landed a vicious right hook late in the second round. The Frenchman had to climb back the division rankings and he did just that in his recent performances.

The God of war stopped a highly valued prospect Mauricio Ruffy with a second round rear naked choke which earned him performance of the night bonus. He got a second straight bonus in his latest bout versus Beneil Dariush.

The fight started with B.Dariush rushing quickly into his opponent, which was a terrible mistake and resulted in a left hook counter which was enough to finish the fight in only 16 seconds.

Although Benoit Saint Denis is the favourite to win this fight and we can understand why, the reliable bookies might underestimate D.Hookers agility and ability to survive on the ground. The Frenchman has a big advantage in the grappling phase, but D.Hooker survived more than a round against top elite grappler like A.Tsarukyan and was able to neutralize Mateusz Gamrot’s takedown attempts.

The current UFC Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is getting prepared for his 8th title fight. This time he accepts a rematch against #2 ranked Diego Lopes and now A.Volkanovski has an opportunity to defend the title for the 5th time in his career.

His 2019-2023 title reign ended after Alexandre Volkanovski fought for the lightweight title twice, eventually losing to I.Makhacev. While he was away, I.Topuria became the champion and did meet Volk in 2024, finishing him in the 2nd round.

I.Topuria vacated the belt in 2025 due to personal reasons, which opened the gate for Alex to become a champion again and he did it successfully with a win over Diego Lopes.

From 2023 to 2024 Diego Lopes put up an amazing streak beating the likes of Brian Ortega, Dan Ige and others. After a great run and changes in the division he got a title shot, which ended in a loss against A.Volkanovski.

The Brazilian did fight once after the loss and impressed the MMA community with his impressive finish of Jean Silva. The fight earned him two bonuses – Fight of the night and performance of the night, so it is not a huge surprise that he was given another shot at the title.

Two judges out of three gave Alexander Volkanovski a 49-46 win and it is hard to see what Diego Lopes could potentially improve for this rematch. Surprisingly, D.Lopes did get one knockdown, but was unable to follow up afterwards and in general got outstruck on the feet 158 significant strikes to 63. Moreover, the Brazilian did not attempt a single takedown, although he defended them perfectly.

Unexpectedly, Volkanovski is only a slight favourite to win this fight in the eyes of the MMA bookies and now it is a great chance to capitalize on decent odds for the champ to defend his belt.