With the dust and the smoke settling, the events of Saturday night in Miami, Florida continue to be the topic of debate and discussion.

Today, we’re breaking down and analysing some of the biggest winners and losers from the UFC’s Miami card on Saturday night.

With that being said, let’s kick things off with the winners from UFC 314:

Alexander Volkanovski might truly be ‘The Great(est)’

Saturday night saw some truly remarkable history being made in Miami.

With his enthralling victory over Diego Lopes in Miami’s main event, Alexander Volkanovski potentially cemented himself as the greatest featherweight of all time.

What was even more impressive than that was the fact that Alexander Volkanovski became the first ever fighter (at welterweight and under) to win a UFC title over the age of 35.

There was a serious discussion that ‘Volk’ was already the featherweight GOAT prior to Saturday night in Miami.

Did his defeat of Diego Lopes simply confirm what many people held to be true for so long?

Paddy the Baddy is for real – I mean, really for real

Ever since his UFC debut in 2021, Paddy Pimblett has been a bit of a….divisive fighter.

There are those who have avidly supported “The Baddy” since his Cage Warrior days, and who have been convinced he would eventually be UFC champion.

Then, there are those who seriously dislike Paddy, and who essentially thought of the Scouser as a walking, talking, overrated meme.

Paddy Pimblett delivered a beating against Michael Chandler. (Image Credit: MMA Junkie – USA Today)

And truthfully, even up to and including his last win against Bobby Green, those debates had continued to rage.

What is not up for debate anymore, however, is that Paddy Pimblett is legit – and extremely dangerous.

In case you somehow missed UFC 314 from Miami, Pimblett absolutely DECIMATED Michael Chandler (we’ll get onto him later), and beat him up badly. In fact, by the time the third round stoppage came, Pimblett has reduced ‘Iron’ Mike’s face to a bloody mess.

Even when Chandler enjoyed success in taking the Scouser down, Pimblett never looked in any kind of trouble – in fact, he appeared to revel in it.

Paddy Pimblett is a certified threat in this lightweight division – and personally, I think he would be the perfect man to welcome longtime rival Ilia Topuria to the division, but that’s just me.

Jean Silva: The bite is a hell of a lot worse than the bark

Jean Silva spent this entire fight week barking (both literally and figuratively) about the damage he would do to Bryce Mitchell.

And boy, oh boy, did he do exactly just that.

After stunning ‘Thug Nasty’ with a savage knockdown, Silva began pouring on the damage to his downed opponent.

The second round saw Silva up against the fence – and he whipped out a wicked ninja choke just as Bryce Mitchell was looking to level change on him.

From there, Silva appeared to choke the consciousness and life from Bryce’s body.- whilst barking in the process.

Jean Silva separated Mitchell from consciousness…and then barked at him. (Image Credit: MMA Fighting)

Jean Silva has cemented himself as more than just a noise – he is a presence in this stacked featherweight division, and a big one, too.

Now that we’ve covered the biggest winners from Saturday night, let’s take a look at who’s stock has plummeted from a poor performance under the bright lights:

Diego Lopes: Will he rue the missed chance?

Before I get into Diego Lopes, I want to be very clear that this is far from Lopes’ final crack at championship gold.

Hell, Lopes might even be fighting for it again by the end of this year/beginning of 2026.

But he sure will rue the missed opportunities that he failed to seize on Saturday night.

Despite Alexander Volkanovski being, well, brilliant, Lopes had his chances – and he had real moments where Volk was stung by the young Brazilian’s brute power.

Will Diego Lopes rue his missed opportunity? (Image Credit: MMA Mania)

Furthermore, Lopes had the chance to not only win the belt, but also knock off (probably) the greatest featherweight to ever do it in the process – what a double-win that would have been.

Again, Diego Lopes will be back – he is the future of this division – but his indecisiveness and gun-shy freezing at the wrong moments cost him big time in Miami.

Where does Michael Chandler go from here?

Michael Chandler is staring down the barrel of a very long, hard discussion with the man in the mirror.

The former Bellator lightweight champion is now just 2-5 in his seven UFC fights.

Now, the problem isn’t necessarily the record – Chandler has fought the who’s who of the lightweight division.

The bigger problem is the manner of the losses themselves.

For example, he got violently knocked out by Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira.

Chandler has suffered several violent finishes in his UFC defeats. (Image Credit: MMA Fighting)

That was followed by a brutalising unanimous decision loss to, of all people, Justin Gaethje.

THAT was then followed by another violent knockout – this time at the hands of Dustin Poirier.

Now, he has been violently knocked out again – this time, it was by someone that Chandler did not consider to even be on his level; not worthy of sharing the same octagon as him.

There are some tough decisions coming up for ‘Iron’ Mike. This lightweight division is only getting nastier and hungrier, and Chandler blew two of his prime years waiting for Conor McGregor to show up.

Does Chandler want to be cannon fodder to this division? Because I don’t know how he reverses his fortunes, to be completely honest.

Bryce Mitchell is starting to wade into wild waters

Bryce Mitchell is in a situation that is not necessarily anywhere near as serious as Michael Chandler’s, but the parallel is there.

Like his Missouri neighbour to the North, the Arkansas native has been violently finished for the second time in his last three fights.

Did his knockout loss to Josh Emmett change Bryce Mitchell? (Image Credit: MMA Fighting)

In case you forgot, he got knocked out by Josh Emmett with a punch that sounded like it came from a shotgun.

And knockouts of that nature can absolutely change a fighter – one wonders if it has done just that to Mitchell?

This is Bryce’s second loss in three fights – and both of those losses have been brutal finishes. Bryce needs to take a firm look at where his next move is coming from, or he might get swept away by the fighting tide if he is not careful.

And that is the recap from UFC 314! Let us know what you thought in the comments below!

Keelin McNamara

[Scratches record] Yeah, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up here…or not. My name’s Keelin McNamara, and I am an AVID combat sports fan. Always have been, and probably always will be. I started writing and podcasting about MMA in the Summer of 2020 (yeah, we don’t talk about that here either). I’ve been doing it ever since, and have loved every single minute of it! Thanks for checking out whatever it is you’re reading – I hope you enjoy it!