Before anyone could say Jack Robinson, Diego Lopes has become the No. 3 ranked UFC featherweight contender in the world. He lost his Dana White's Contender Series fight in September 2021 and racked up two wins in Lux Fight League and Fury FC before making his UFC debut against Movsar Evloev on short notice in May 2023.
Although Lopes lost the Evloev fight, his impressive performance solidified his position in the promotion. Since then, he's won five fights in a row and following the latest victory over Brian Ortega, he's eyeing a title fight or a title eliminator with Alexander Volkanovski.
The former UFC featherweight kingpin has finally revealed what would compel him to take on Lopes instead of the winner of Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway...
Alexander Volkanovski Reveals The Only Scenario Where Fighting Diego Lopes Would Make Sense For Him
Volkanovski appeared on the Submission Radio YouTube channel to clear the air around his next fight. When asked about Lopes, "The Great" stuck to what he's been saying ever since losing the title. He'll return to fight for the undisputed UFC featherweight championship and he'll share the Octagon with Lopes if a title is involved.
Volk presented a scenario where either Holloway or Topuria might need time off after their UFC 308 showdown. He remembered that Holloway also has the BMF belt and can move up weight classes which might incentivize the UFC to make an interim title fight.
If it was going to be him next, you know, something would have to happen to one of the guys, you know, from the fight where they get injured or move divisions or whatnot, you know. And there's an interim title or something like that, obviously I'm not scared of nobody but I'll fight for the title and that's that. So that's the only way that sort of happens, but you know you never know what happens right? Like the boys, the guys are fighting. Max has got a BMF belt. What's he going to do if, you know? If Max wins, what's his next fight? Is he defending the featherweight belt straight away or is he going BMF so that could open the door for maybe a, you know, an interim or something.
So, an interim title fight is the only thing that would motivate Volkanovski to fight Lopes. Volk being Volk, he didn't entirely rule out the possibility of a non-title fight with the Brazilian prospect. However, he seems adamant about returning to only fight for the featherweight belt for now.