Combat Sports Recap: Stevenson Dominates Lopez, Volkanovski Defends Title, and Key Victories Across Boxing and MMA

The professional combat sports world saw a flurry of action last week, with significant title changes and defenses in both boxing and mixed martial arts. Headlining the boxing circuit, Shakur Stevenson emerged victorious in a highly anticipated super lightweight clash, while UFC Featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski successfully retained his belt.

In boxing, Newark's own Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) delivered a dominant performance, defeating Teofimo Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 12-round super lightweight world title bout at Madison Square Garden on January 31. With this victory, Stevenson claimed the WBO and Ring Magazine super lightweight championships, becoming the 25th fighter in boxing history to win a world title in four divisions. The judges scored the fight 119-109 across the board. The undercard also saw Keyshawn Davis (14-0, 10 KOs) make a successful super lightweight debut, and Austin Williams (19-1, 13 KOs) secured a unanimous decision victory over Wendy Toussaint.

Elsewhere in boxing on January 31, Josh Kelly successfully defended his IBF junior middleweight championship, defeating Bakhram Murtazaliev by majority decision in Newcastle, England. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Xander Zayas (c) unified the WBO and WBA junior middleweight titles by defeating Abass Baraou via split decision. Additionally, Jacob Bank stopped William Scull in the 12th round in Denmark, and Francesca Hennessy won by majority decision against Ellie Bouttell. Zuffa Boxing 02 on February 1 in Las Vegas featured Jose Valenzuela battling Diego Torres in the main event, with Serhii Bohachuk and Oleksandr Gvozdyk also on the card.

The mixed martial arts landscape was dominated by UFC 325: Volkanovski vs. Lopes 2, which took place on January 31 in Sydney, Australia. Alexander Volkanovski (c) successfully defended his UFC featherweight title for the second straight time against Diego Lopes, earning a unanimous decision victory (49-46, 49-46, 50-45). The event also showcased several other impressive performances, including Benoît Saint Denis's TKO victory over Dan Hooker in the co-main event, and Mauricio Ruffy's TKO win against Rafael Fiziev, which propelled him into the Top 10 of the lightweight division. Tallison Teixeira, Quillan Salkilld, Cam Rowston, Kaan Ofli, and Keiichiro Nakamura also secured wins on the card.

Meanwhile, OKTAGON 83 on February 1 saw Mago Machaev crowned as the new featherweight champion following a spectacular knockout. Alina Dalaslan also achieved a significant TKO victory over Karolina Sobek, passing the toughest test of her career.