It's a huge few weeks for the UFC's featherweight division leading up to UFC 308, where the champion will be making his first title defense.
Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway is one of the most anticipated fights of the year, but in the meantime, there's still plenty of movement to happen at the top of the division.
Diego Lopes earned his spot in the top five this past weekend at UFC 306 (Noche UFC), where he defeated former two-time title challenger Brian Ortega.
However, despite his incredible rise after losing his UFC debut, Lopes could need one more win in order to earn a title shot, and his next opponent could be decided at UFC 307...
Aljamain Sterling Talks About The Potential Of Facing Diego Lopes In A Title Eliminator
Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling is looking to earn back-to-back wins at 145 pounds when he clashes with the undefeated Movsar Evloev on October 5 in Salt Lake City.
Whoever wins that fight will be in a great position to fight someone right near the top of the rankings which, as Sterling pointed out, could end up being Lopes.
In an interview with Submission Radio, "Funk Master" laid out his idea of how things will play out.
I can see, because (Alexander) Volkanovski's guaranteed his next title shot no matter who wins between Ilia and Holloway, that Lopes is probably gonna have to fight again. So, I would imagine that between the the winner of myself and Movsar, I think that'll probably end up being the next title challenger.
Sterling also said that off the back of Lopes' win over Ortega, this is a fight that gets him excited because he sees the Brazilian as a tough test.
Getting past the undefeated Russian is a big hurdle in the first place, but a fight with Lopes would have huge title implications for the winner.
It definitely is an exciting time for the featherweight division and for myself because that's not an easy fight and that excites me. That's the most exciting part about it.