If all goes as planned, Diego Lopes
won’t be needed on Oct. 26.
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However, it’s always good to have a contingency in place, which is
why Lopes will serve as the backup fighter for the UFC 308
featherweight title clash between Ilia
Topuria and Max
Holloway. Lopes announced the role late last month, which means he
will weigh in ahead of the event along with Topuria and
Holloway.
Lopes does have an opponent preference if he were called upon to
step in for the UFC 308 main event.
“I definitely would rather fight with Ilia for the undisputed
title. That would be amazing. We’ve also really analyzed
everything. We’ve sat down to analyze both fighters. People might
take this the wrong way and say, ‘No, I don’t believe him,’ but I
think for me, a fight against Topuria would be a better matchup for
my style,” Lopes recently told MMAjunkie.com.
Topuria vs. Holloway Saturday at 2 PM ET on ESPN+. Order
Now!
“It’s a fight that suits me. Against Max, it’s a fight where we
have to mount a more complex strategy with no errors. With Topuria,
as well, I’m not saying no, but I think against him things would be
more favorable because I like to exchange and clash, and I hit
hard. I’m capable of knocking out people. And since Ilia throws
with everything and I throw with everything, we can say it’s a
shootout and let’s see who falls first. So the fight against Ilia
definitely suits more my style.”
Lopes has won five straight UFC bouts since falling to Movsar
Evloev in his short-notice Octagon debut in May 2023. The
Lobo Gym MMA product earned his most significant victory to
date at UFC
306, when he took a clear-cut unanimous decision over two-time
featherweight title challenger Brian
Ortega at The Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14.