Diego Lopes recently laid down his immediate career plans.
Lopes is coming off a unanimous decision win over Brian Ortega at UFC 306 that saw the Brazilian enter the featherweight title picture. It was Lopes’ fifth consecutive win — including three finishes — after coming up on the short side of a unanimous decision against Movsar Evloev in his UFC debut.
Meanwhile, Evloev has offered Lopes a rematch after originally scheduled opponent Aljamain Sterling pulled out of their UFC 307 matchup set for Oct. 5. However, having fought Evloev on short notice once, Lopes is unwilling to do it again unless the UFC guarantees Lopes a title shot with a potential win over the undefeated Russian.
“The only possibility this fight happens is if the UFC really says, ‘OK, you fight him and win, and you’re next for the belt,’” Lopes recently told MMAFighting.com. “That’s the only way this fight happens at the moment, and I want a full camp. It’s very easy for him to call me out knowing I just fought two weeks ago. I’ve been calling him out several times to fight with a full camp, and he never wanted it. The possibility of me accepting this fight now or fight him on short notice is zero.”
Meanwhile, former champ Max Holloway challenges Ilia Topuria for the title in the main event at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Lopes wants to be in on the action in the role of a backup fighter and has already made it known to the UFC. But if that doesn’t pan out, Lopes wants to fight former champ Alexander Volkanovski in December.
“If that doesn’t happen, we’d like the possibility of fighting Volkanovski in December,” Lopes said. “He doesn’t like to wait, and neither do I, so that could be a good fight. A lot can happen, but I think the two most viable options for us right now are being the backup fighter in Abu Dhabi, or fighting Volkanovski in December. The UFC is aware that I’m available for [UFC 308], so it depends on what they want to do.”
Volkanovski is currently 1-3 in his last four, two of which were failed double champ bids at lightweight against Islam Makahchev. “The Great” most recently lost his featherweight strap to Topuria via knockout at UFC 298 this past February. Speaking of a potential clash against Volkanovski, Lopes says it’s their abilities to adapt that makes it an exciting matchup.
“The Volk fight would be very interesting because he’s shown he can adapt well to everybody’s style, especially when his opponent is taller, until he fought Topuria,” Lopes said. “But I think I can also adapt well to guys that are shorter than me, so it would be a very interesting fight.”
