Diego
Lopes wasn’t happy about not being included in the
UFC’s initial list of potential opponents for Ilia
Topuria.

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Topuria successfully defended his featherweight title by knocking
out Max
Holloway for the first time at UFC 308
on Oct. 26. Lopes, who was also in attendance for the event, was
pitched as a potential opponent for Topuria during the champ’s
post-fight interview. However, Topuria expressed more interest in a
rematch against Alexander
Volkanovski, whom he dethroned via knockout at UFC 298 this
past February.

Meanwhile, Topuria is also looking to move up to lightweight for a
double-champ bid against Islam
Makhachev. And former middleweight champ Kamaru
Usman has suggested that “El Matador” should be pitted against
Conor
McGregor to be established as the new face of the
promotion.

Volkanovski, Makhachev and McGregor were all featured in a recent „What’s next for Ilia Topuria“ graphic, while a fourth spot was
left blank. Lopes was unhappy about being left out from the list
and voiced his grouse on social media.

“And I’m a soccer player? Or what’s going on?” the Brazilian
contender wrote on X.

Lopes’ words fetched results, as he was featured on an identical
post by UFC Brasil soon after. Lopes reacted to the post with a
smiling face with sunglasses emoji.

Topuria ideally wants to defend his title in Spain, where the UFC
is planning to make its debut next year but has yet to finalize a
date. Meanwhile, Volkanovski doesn’t want to stay inactive too long
while waiting for a rematch against Topuria. Lopes believes he
should fight Volkanovski for an interim title in the meantime at
UFC 312 in in Sydney.

“Ilia mentioned on Saturday night that he wanted to take some time
off. Also, the UFC mentioned they are working on a date for Spain,”
Lopes recently told Ariel Helwani. “While this is all going
on, it would make the most sense for [me] to just fight Volkin
Sydney for an interim title. Volk has already suggested this, I
have already agreed to it. Let’s just do it.”

Lopes has racked up a five-fight winning streak including three
finishes since a foiled UFC debut against Movsar
Evloev — all within the span of 16 months.

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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