Diego Lopes’ win at Noche UFC was a really spectacular feat.
Regardless of going into the battle as a slight favourite, it was unsure how the previous one-time UFC title challenger would deal with the ferocious in-your-face model that Jean Silva brings to each single battle.
Lopes ended up delivering some of the dominant rounds of the yr within the night’s major occasion, mounting Silva and raining down a slew of punches and hellacious elbows earlier than sending ‘Lord’ to his nook a bloody mess. And whereas Lopes could have confronted some adversity within the second stanza, it didn’t cease him from delivering some of the brutal knockouts of 2025 by way of a wonderfully timed spinning again elbow.
Trying again on the highlight-reel end, Lopes may solely sum up his combating model a technique.
He fights like a Mexican.
“My battle model? That is from my coach — you need to prepare me, you should battle like a Mexican,” Lopes mentioned throughout his post-fight interview in San Antonio. “I feel this evening, the folks watched this — battle like a Mexican. I’m so comfortable for the children from Mexico tonight. 5 and 0 — that is large for Mexico.”
Is it time for Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes 2?
After developing brief towards featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski in April, Lopes is again within the win column and, extra importantly, one large step nearer towards one other crack on the division’s prime prize.
Whether or not or not he’s the subsequent man up for Volk stays to be seen, however likelihood is, he’ll have to take a seat again and wait to see how issues play out between ‘The Nice’ and present top-ranked featherweight contender Movsar Evloev.
