Alexander Volkanovski Reveals Vision Was Compromised by Diego Lopes Punch

Alexander Volkanovski was admittedly in danger in his title fight against Diego Lopes.

Volkanovski and Lopes clashed for the vacant featherweight title in the main event at UFC 314 on Saturday at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. While Lopes had his moments, Volkanovski appeared to be in his prime at 36 years of age while cruising to a unanimous decision win.

However, Volkanovski admitted that it wasn’t exactly an easy night at the office for him. “The Great” lost vision in his left eye due to a from a punch by Lopes. While Volkanovski isn’t sure when it happened, it was most likely an uppercut from Lopes in the fourth round that had the Australian clutching his eye.

“I completely lost vision in my left eye,” Volkanovski told Main Event TV. “It was a good shot and I just could not see. I was trying to get it back and it was completely gone. Slowly come back a little bit… I could at least see a little blur, which helped. So when it was nothing, [I thought] ‘Oh s—t this ain’t good.’ Then a little blur made it a little bit better to understand the distance and stuff like that. And then it came back a little towards the end.”

Lopes mounted a five-fight winning streak, beating the likes of Dan Ige and Brian Ortega, to earn his title shot. Meanwhile, Volkanovski bounced back from back-to-back knockout losses with a victory in his 10th straight UFC title fight.