Diego Lopes found himself in some early trouble, but he found his groove and scored a solid knockout of Steve Garcia to kick off the UFC Freedom 250 event.
Garcia opened up with some big shots in the fight’s first minute, mixing up his strikes and giving a little trouble to Lopes. Lopes stayed back and looked to find openings to land while looking to avoid and counter Garcia. Lopes did so with a counter right that caught Garcia’s attention late in the first.
Lopes started to get his striking going in the second round, but Garcia managed to rock him. Lopes, however, chose to continue to swing away, prompting Garcia to brawl with him.
That proved to be costly, as Lopes clipped Garcia with a SHOT, adding in shots on the ground to finish Garcia off and score the TKO.
Diego Lopes Opens UFC Freedom 250 With Comeback TKO Of Steve Garcia
Lopes is now 7-3 in the UFC, with only losses to Alexander Volkanovski and Movsar Evloev. This was Lopes’ first fight since losing a championship rematch with Volkanovski at UFC 325.
Garcia sees a seven-fight win streak snapped with this loss.