One of the best up-and-coming prospects in the sport, Diego Lopes, had the toughest test of his career on Saturday at UFC 306 Noche UFC at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lopes defeated the former title challenger and long-time veteran of the featherweight division, Brian ‘T-City’ Ortega by a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, and 30-26).
Lopes hurt Ortega with a pair of strikes in the first round but couldn’t finish him and decided to take the fight to the ground. Lopes out-landed Ortega 106 to 63 in significant strikes. Surprisingly enough, Lopes was the fighter who scored the only takedown in the fight. Ortega shot for a takedown twice but got denied by Lopes.
Although Lopes was born and raised in Brazil, he now represents Mexico as well. Lopes moved to Mexico when he was 19 years old, 10 years ago, to become an MMA coach and later a fighter. He currently trains at Lobo Gym MMA, the same gym where former Women’s Flyweight Champion Alexa Grasso trains. Lopes did a good job of keeping Ortega at range and not allowing him to close the distance. It was impressive seeing Lopes not hunting and relying on a knockout throughout the fight.
Lopes to win by decision was +225 as he was -160 on the moneyline on DraftKings Sportsbook.
When the UFC updates their rankings on Tuesday morning, Lopes will likely be the new No. 3 featherweight contender in the world after beating Ortega. How close is Lopes to a title shot? Let’s look ahead and discuss who should Lopes fight next.
- No. 1 Alexander Volkanovski
As of late, Volk has lost three of his last four fights—but let’s dive deeper. When you take a closer look, he moved up to lightweight and lost two fights for the championship against the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Islam Makhachev. In his most recent fight in February, he was knocked out in the first round by new champion Ilia Topuria.
So, that means that Volkanovski has only lost one fight in his eight-year UFC career at his normal weight class of featherweight. I believe that Volk will most likely fight for the featherweight title, but if he wants to stay active Lopes is a good choice because he hasn’t fought him yet.
- Winner of (C) Ilia Topuria vs. No. 2 Max Holloway (at UFC 308)
This is the second-best option for Lopes. Beating Ortega could warrant a title shot but Lopes has an all-time great waiting in front of him for another opportunity. There have been rumors of Volk taking another exciting fight at lightweight while he waits to fight the winner of Topuria and Holloway.
That would benefit Lopes a ton because he would then be the next best option that is available. Lopes has suffered roughly zero damage during his five-fight win streak. Lopes has been looked at as a great rising prospect, but he is now in the deep end of the featherweight division. A fight between Lopes and either Topuria or Holloway would be fireworks. Either way, it would present an elite striking battle.
- Winner of No. 6 Movsar Evloev vs. No. 8 Aljamain Sterling (at UFC 307)
Evloev is one of the most disrespected fighters in the sport right now. He is 18-0 while being 8-0 in the UFC with a win over Lopes, Dan Ige, and Arnold Allen. The UFC of course gives Evloev another tough matchup against Sterling, a former UFC champion.
A rematch between Evloev and Lopes would be entertaining because Evloev needs a big performance to make an impact in this division. Also, Lopes going against an elite wrestler and fighter on the ground in Sterling would be a great test to see if he can stop the Funkmaster’s relentless attack.
Lopes was one of the biggest winners of the night during UFC 306, beating a tough veteran and proving that he is much more than a flashy knockout artist.
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