Alexander Volkanovski looks to overcome worrying stat for former UFC champions in 2025 at UFC 314

Yesterday at 12:50 PM

‘The Great’ looks to kickstart his second reign as the featherweight champion in Miami on April 12.

Alexander Volkanovski has already got plans to regularly compete as the 145-pound titleholder following his return at UFC 314 where he fights for the vacant title.

However, in order to do that, he will need to overcome the incredibly self-confident Diego Lopes who has put together a five-fight win streak inside the Octagon.

The big question is whether Volkanovski can recapture his championship form after suffering back-to-back knockout losses in his latest outings.

At 36-years-old, he will also have to overcome a worrying statistic that points to fighters who have previously been at the top struggling to get back on track.

• READ MORE:Aljamain Sterling shares 'honest answer' to question about Sean O'Malley's UFC 316 title shot

Alexander Volkanovski faces a tough stat for former UFC champions in 2025

Alexander Volkanovski is certainly the toughest test of Diego Lopes’ career to date but this is also not the same version of the former champion who went a decade without losing.

‘The Great’ has been to the top and it’s a remarkable accomplishment that he was able to stay there for so long but his next opponent will be hoping that it’s now his time to replace the old guard.

Across the 11 UFC events that have taken place so far this year, 8 former champions have stepped inside the Octagon.

The first two being when Jiri Prochazka faced off with Jamahal Hill at UFC 311 with the latest coming this past weekend where Brandon Moreno headlined the card in Mexico City.

Of those 8, only 2 of them have come out on top with both of the victors already being named, Prochazka and Moreno.

The others have all been defeated and whilst not all of them are due to a changing of the guard, the losses have still had a major impact on their divisions.

Jamahal Hill, Israel Adesanya, Sean Strickland, Henry Cejudo, Leon Edwards and Jan Blachowicz have all come up short whilst Alex Pereira doesn’t factor into this list because whilst he’s a former UFC middleweight champion, he was the light heavyweight champion going into his loss at UFC 313.

Against an opponent that is 6 years younger than him, Volkanovski will look to bring the tally of the former champs up to 3 on April 12 at the Kaseya Center.

• READ MORE: Jose Aldo called out by UFC 314 star who wants to prove he's the 'best featherweight of all time'

Alexander Volkanovski has admitted some doubts in the past

Following his loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298, Alexander Volkanovski chose to take some serious time off which was long overdue for the fan favorite.

He spoke openly in an interview with ESPN MMA once this fight was made official about how he was worried about needing some time to regain his confidence after stepping back inside the gym.

Volkanovski remained confident that when the time would come, he’d be able to flip that switch again and get right back to where he was and he’s now confident that his preparations have done just that.

"There were questions: Am I going to be able to flip the switch? Am I going to be the same guy once I flip that switch?" Volkanovski said. "We found out early because we started camp nice and early that we would. We're kicking ass in the gym right now. The weight is ahead of schedule, and we've still got plenty of time."

We will find out at UFC 314 whether ‘The Great’ can add more chapters to his historic career by becoming a two-time champion.