Lopes Breaks Into Title Discussion
The meteoric rise of Diego Lopes through the UFC’s featherweight division reached a new level this week when the Brazilian was confirmed to be the backup fighter for UFC 308’s main event between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway next month.
Lopes only made his first appearance inside the Octagon in May of 2023 when he took on Movsar Evloev at UFC 288 on just five days’ notice. While he ultimately lost by unanimous decision, his all-action display certainly turned some heads, and three consecutive first round finishes over Gavin Tucker, Pat Sabatini and Sodiq Yusuff over an eight-month period marked Lopes as a potential future title contender at 145lbs.
Challenging The Elite
He was rewarded for his fine form with a fight against former challenger Brian Ortega at UFC 303 in June. When Ortega fell out of the match up late on due to weight cutting issues, Ortega was handed a new opponent in Dan Ige. While that fight came together at incredibly short notice (just a few hours before the event), Lopes managed to maintain his focus and walk away with a unanimous decision victory, further endearing him to both the UFC matchmakers and the fans.
He finally got the opportunity to face Ortega on the main card of the UFC’s recent ‘Riyadh Season UFC Noche’ event at the Sphere. Sitting at 12th in the featherweight rankings, eight places below Ortega, and little more than a year removed from his UFC debut, this represented quite the step up in both competition and platform. He responded with a dominant display, and that win on such a grand stage looks to have earned him an amazing opportunity to gatecrash the title discussion in the featherweight division.
Rekindling Old Rivalries
Prior to the Ortega fight, Lopes had been calling for a rematch against Movsar Evloev, hoping to take back the only defeat on his UFC record to date. Those calls fell on deaf ears, likely because the Russian sat comfortably in 6th place and only wanted to fight upwards in the rankings. When Evloev’s opponent for next week’s UFC 307 event, Aljamain Sterling, fell out due to injury, he quickly changed his tune and called for Lopes to step up to the plate. Lopes, now in the driving seat due to having taken Brian Ortega’s #3 spot in the division, rebuffed his rival’s callout, tweeting:
“You had your chance a few months ago when I called you to fight!! Now you sit back and watch as the bus leaves you waiting”.
https://twitter.com/Diegolopesmma/status/1836520859978338492
The pair shared an interesting back-and-forth on social media, and Lopes was quick to highlight some reasons to the Russian as to why he seems to have left him in the rearview mirror, as he tweeted:
“Brother, since my first victory in the UFC, I called you to fight. You could make excuses, that you were above me in the rankings. Since our last fight, I have 5 victories. While you have only fought once. You were lower in the rankings. Not to mention that you have not finished anyone”.
https://twitter.com/Diegolopesmma/status/1836536222807932988
A New Name In The Title Picture
With Evloev’s last performance (a decision win over Arnold Allen) having drawn criticism from Dana White, and neither Yair Rodriguez or Brian Ortega able to find any consistency in their form of late, it looks like only Diego Lopes and former champion Alexander Volkanovski remain in the title picture at 145lbs. Many assumed that Volkanovski would be next in line once Topuria and Holloway clash next month but the addition of Lopes as a backup fighter may mean that is no longer a formality.
As he continues to climb the ranks, one thing is clear: Diego Lopes is no longer just a name to watch—he’s a fighter destined to play an important part in the featherweight championship picture in the near future.
