Diego Lopes and Yair Rodriguez aren’t booked to face each other at UFC 314, yet tensions flared between them in the lead-up to the event.
Lopes is poised to fight former champion Alexander Volkanovski for the vacant featherweight title in the headlining bout of UFC’s pay-per-view event this Saturday at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. Meanwhile, on the undercard, Rodriguez will welcome promotional newcomer Patricio Pitbull in a highly anticipated matchup.
Ahead of this weekend's matchups, all the main card fighters gathered on stage for the UFC 314 pre-fight press conference on Thursday, where the atmosphere remained relatively calm as only Bryce Mitchell and Jean Silva traded barbs. However, around 25 minutes into the presser, things started to heat up between Lopes and Rodriguez.
The tension began when a journalist inquired whether Lopes would be open to facing Rodriguez in the future, assuming he defeats Volkanovski. This came after "El Pantera" had earlier voiced his displeasure with Lopes representing Mexico, despite being born in Brazil.
In his response, Lopes sharply reminded the former UFC interim featherweight champion of his consecutive stoppage losses, which led Rodriguez to spring to his feet. The situation escalated as Rodriguez yelled at Lopes, branding him a coward, and stirred up personal grievances involving fighters from both of their gyms.
The fiery exchange raged on, with the fighters exchanging words in Spanish as security intervened, struggling to keep them apart and avoid an all-out brawl on stage. For a brief moment, it seemed like the situation had cooled.
Initially, it appeared that the situation had been defused, but as the press conference wrapped up and the fighters prepared for their customary face-offs, Lopes and Rodriguez couldn’t help but continue their verbal sparring, reigniting the animosity once again before facing their respective UFC 314 opponents.
This was a stark contrast to the camaraderie Lopes and Rodriguez displayed during the first UFC 314 pre-fight press conference in March, where the two were seen sharing a moment of mutual respect.