While Diego Lopes
is still interested in fighting Brian
Ortega, he wants Alexander
Volkanovski next if “T-City” is unavailable.
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Lopes was originally scheduled to fight Ortega in a featherweight
matchup in the co-main event at UFC 303
last weekend. However, Lopes agreed to a lightweight clash when it
become clear that Ortega was going to be unable to cut to 145
pounds. The fight finally fell through when “T-City” fell ill on
the day of the bout. Ortega was replaced on hours’ notice by
Dan
Ige, who suffered a hard-fought unanimous decision loss against
Lopes.
Both Lopes and Ige subsequently called for a spot at UFC
306 on Sept. 14 at the Sphere in Las Vegas, a request to which
Dana White has already agreed. While Lopes called for a rebooking
against Ortega, the former title challenger’s future at
featherweight currently hangs in the balance. Ortega was already
targeting a move up to lightweight, potentially at UFC 306, when he
accepted the short-notice featherweight clash against Lopes. If
Ortega can’t make the cut to 145 pounds, Lopes revealed on “The MMA Hour” that he wants former champ
Volkanovski at the Sphere in September.
“I mean, we would love the Brian [Ortega] reprogramming of the
fight,” Lopes said. “We would love that opportunity as long as he
can make 145 pounds, he’s healthy and can come back for the fight.
But if he’s not, then we would love to fight Volkanovski. It would
just be a great accolade for me and another scale up the ladder for
my career.”
Lopes hasn’t lost in four outings since dropping a unanimous
decision in a “Fight of the Night” against Movsar
Evloev in his UFC debut in May 2023. Evloev took a shot at
Lopes after UFC 303, stating that the Brazilian’s biggest claim to
fame was the loss against him.
Your biggest win in UFC is losing to me
#ufc303— Movsar Evloev (@MovsarUFC)
June 30, 2024
Evloev has only fought once since his win over Lopes, taking
unanimous decision over Arnold
Allen at UFC 297 this past January. Responding to Evloev’s
latest comments, Lopes suggested the Russian stay quiet based on
their recent career trajectories.
“There’s no real response to that,” Lopes said. “It’s just better
that he stays quiet because what [I] have done in one year in the
UFC, he hasn’t even [come] close to it.”
Evloev has since called out Lopes for a rematch, allegedly because
Aljamain
Sterling won’t accept a fight against him.
“Hey [Diego Lopes], I wanna give you a rematch at the Sphere
because [Aljamain Sterling] is running for his life, and this time
I’m gonna finish you.”