The Bigger Picture | UFC 325

Examining The Deeper Takeaways And Talking Points From A Fun Night In Sydney

By E. Spencer Kyte • Feb. 2, 2026

Back in Sydney for the second straight February, UFC 325 served as an outstanding follow-up to last weekend’s opening event of the year, with more than half of the bouts ending inside the distance, ANZAC fighters and one recent adoptee garnering nine wins, and the main event serving as another standout moment for the greatest Australian fighter of all time.

It was an entertaining night of action that produced plenty to discuss and consider, so let’s get into it, shall we?

Alexander The Greatest

Alexander Volkanovski retained his featherweight title, equaling Jose Aldo’s record for the championship fight wins at eight, with a unanimous decision victory over Diego Lopes. He performed even better in the rematch than he did in their initial meeting, earning scores of 49-46 twice and 50-45 once to move to 15-1 in the UFC featherweight division.

At this point, it’s universally accepted that Volkanovski is the best featherweight of all-time. With all due respect to Aldo and Max Holloway, the Australian beat the former on his way to the title and the latter three different times with the belt on the line, and just posted a more emphatic victory over a game challenger who has beaten everyone else he’s faced outside of when he made his short-notice debut, and even then, he gave Movsar Evloev hell.

Alexander Volkanovski Post-Fight Interview | UFC 325

But it’s time to start considering where Volkanovski sits in the pantheon of all-time greats and whether he’s the best game-planner and in-fight tactician in UFC history as well.

UFC 325 REWIND: Main Card Results | Prelim Results | Scorecards

All of these things are subjective, so there is no one right answer, but his overall resume is outstanding, his command in the cage and ability to make adjustments from fight-to-fight, as well as in the heat of the battle, are tremendous, and it makes for a really interesting conversation, provided everyone can keep a level head about things. There are some obvious names from previous eras to consider (Georges St-Pierre, Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones) and two men who have bested Volk to include as well (Islam Makhachev, Ilia Topuria), but it’s not as easy as you think when you look at everyone’s strength of schedule and the tactical elements.

Cross-generational debates like this are extra difficult because you can only beat who the UFC puts in front of you and different divisions had different depths of talent at different points in time — hence the no one right answer — but watching Volkanovski out-work Lopes for a second consecutive fight and do it in even more dominant fashion than last year just really emphasized how special of a talent he is and how incredible it has been to watch him rule the featherweight for the better part of the last six years and counting.

The 37-year-old is an absolute stud and one of the best to ever do it, and given how impressive he looked on Saturday, I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Options Aplenty at Lightweight

Last weekend wrapped with Justin Gaethje winning the interim lightweight title for a second time and securing himself a chance to face Ilia Topuria somewhere down the line. This week, the abundance of opportunities available in the 155-pound weight class became one of the key takeaways from UFC 325 after a trio of impressive performances on the main card.

Benoit Saint Denis of France elbows Dan Hooker of New Zealand in a lightweight fight during the UFC 325 event at Qudos Bank Arena on February 01, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Benoit Saint Denis ran his winning streak to four while mauling Dan Hooker, maintaining his 100 percent finishing rate in the process. In his post-fight interview, he called for a shot at either the undisputed title or the BMF belt, both of which are appetizing, even if the former is unlikely at the moment. One fight earlier, Mauricio Ruffy punched his ticket to the Top 10 with a second-round stoppage win of his own over Rafael Fiziev, and in the opener, Quilan Salkilld kicked off his sophomore campaign with a first-round submission win over fellow Aussie Jamie Mullarkey; much more on him below.

UFC 325 Post-Fight Press Conference

If you set Topuria and Gaethje aside, the rest of the top 15 profiles as a devilish collection of all-action talents where there are no wrong answers when it comes to how to pair them up next, with a bunch of additional fun options hovering in the Second 15, waiting for a shot to prove themselves. And with the title picture pretty well mapped out for the year — Gaethje first, and then the winner of that probably faces the winner of Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira, right? — now is the perfect time to start pairing everyone else off and seeing how things shake out over the rest of the year.

Fighters like Saint Denis, Ruffy, Manuel Torres, and Fares Ziam all have positive momentum and should be tapped for bigger opportunities next time out, while some of the veteran names in the upper echelon are going to have to defend their spots or simply get swept under by the wave of talent pushing forward right now.

This could be a year where the landscape in the lightweight division is completely reshaped — it has already started — and it would be crazy not to take full advantage of the opportunity at hand.

Quite the Start for Quillan Salkilld

How do you follow up a rookie campaign where you win Debut of the Year at UFC Honors and Newcomer of the Year in our staff awards while going 3-0 with a pair of finishes and landing on every list of fighters to watch heading into the new year? If you’re Quillan Salkilld, you stride into the Octagon, toss Jamie Mullarkey to the canvas like a sack of potatoes, take his back and choke him out, all in three minutes and a couple ticks.

Quillan Salkilld Secures Opening Round Submission | UFC 325

This was a statement effort in a spot where a statement effort was needed, not because there were questions about Salkilld’s talents or future prospects, but rather because of the sheer number of eyes that were on him heading into this one. He was in the first fight of the night when the UFC rolled into Qudos Bank Arena last year, and after being featured in a ton of social media posts and video moments all week, he kicked off the main card on Saturday and showed out.

He’s won 11 straight overall, eight of them by finish, and he just turned 26 at the end of December. He’s pressing for a place in the Top 15 or at least a date with someone sporting a number next to their name, but at the same time, there’s space to keep bringing him along incrementally.

Right now, it’s Quillan Salkilld’s world, and we’re just living in it.

Quick Hitters

Tallison Teixeira did very good work in the first round, solid work in the second, and then held on for dear life in the third to escape with a unanimous decision win over Tai Tuivasa. Young and raw, but already facing Top 15 competition, the Brazilian heavyweight has obvious upside but also needs time to grow and develop. It’s going to be interesting to see how things progress for him from here.

Billy Elekana dropped his short-notice debut last December and hasn’t looked back since, emerging as a prospect in the light heavyweight ranks while winning each of his last three fights. There were some tense moments in the first round of his clash with Junior Tafa, but after getting him to the canvas in the second, it was one-way traffic, as “Son of Susie” wrapped up another submission finish.

Quillan Salkilld of Australia reacts after a submission victory against Jamie Mullarkey of Australia in a lightweight fight during the UFC 325 event at Qudos Bank Arena on February 01, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Cameron Rowston has made the walk to the Octagon twice and walked out with a stoppage victory both times. The Sydney man thrilled the hometown crowd with a second-round finish of Cody Brundage and is one of the top new names in the increasingly deep and competitive middleweight ranks.

POST-FIGHT INTERVIEWS: Elekana | Rowston | Micaleff | Ofli

Jonathan Micallef had to wait nearly an entire year in order to make his second UFC start, but he made it count on Saturday, collecting a second-round submission win over Oban Elliott in their welterweight grudge match. “The Captain” was a little off balance in the early going, but he was lightning quick in taking the back and lacing up the choke once they hit the deck, putting Elliott to sleep before he could tap. Don’t be surprised if he’s pushing for a place in the Top 15 by the end of the year if he can get another couple of fights under his belt.

Kaan Olfi dropped each of his first two UFC appearances, but has now rebounded with consecutive wins, sneaking by Yizha in Sydney. The former Ultimate Fighter finalist has solid power and quality grappling, plus he showed on Saturday that he can take a shot, but I can’t help but wonder if he would be better suited to competing at bantamweight, much like fellow undersized talent Charles Jourdain.

One Last Thing

The best season of Road to UFC wrapped up at the start of Saturday’s fight card, with the bantamweight, featherweight, and lightweight tournament finales graduating a trio of new talents to the roster. While Keiichiro Nakamura’s comeback finish of Sebastian Szalay in the middle fight of the three was the biggest highlight, the wins by Lawrence Lui and Dom Mar Phan were solid as well, with the City Kickboxing man and Australia’s “Street Buddha” being sharp additions to their respective divisions as well

Keiichiro Nakamura Secures Late TKO In Round 3 | UFC 325

While there have been more international talents turning up on Dana White’s Contender Series each year, RTU is without question the best showcase of prospects from Asia and the ANZAC region, and the level of talent continues to tick up year after year. Folks like to moan about the continued existence of The Ultimate Fighter and how many newcomers are added to the roster each year through Dana White’s Contender Series, but they continue to produce quality talents and loads of fun fights each year.

Just as it took a couple of years and a couple of seasons for TUF and DWCS to produce top contenders and eventually champions, it would not be surprising to eventually see a similar level of competitor emerge from RTU as well.

And with that, we’re done for this week.

See you after the smoke clears at UFC 326.

Miss you, TG.

UFC 325: Volkanovski vs Lopes 2 took place live from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia on January 31, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!