Diego Lopes hopes for future clash vs. Yair Rodriguez: 'I will ask for that fight again'
Diego Lopes wants to eventually get his hands on Yair Rodriguez.
After their viral heated confrontation at the UFC 314 pre-fight press conference in April, the UFC tried to book the two for the headliner of this year's Noche UFC – the promotion's annual celebration of Mexican Independence Day. Lopes (27-6 MMA, 6-1 UFC) was coming off a decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski in a championship bout for the vacant UFC featherweight belt, and Rodriguez (20-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) off a decision win over former Bellator champion Patricio Freire at UFC 314.
Unfortunately, the fight wasn't able to materialize. Rodriguez said he couldn't accept the fight due to nagging injuries from the fight against "Pitbull," which didn't surprise Lopes.
"I knew that the fight with Yair was going to be hard to get done, I don't need to say anything, we know his past record," Lopes told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. "We know how he sometimes sits out and wants things to fall on his lap like a gift. His past record speaks for itself. I don't need to name names, but he hasn't accepted many fights. I'm the opposite, I don't sit and wait for anything. If you want to fight, accept the fight, and let's go. So Jean Silva wants to fight, let's fight then."
Lopes ended up getting booked against Silva, a fellow Brazilian, to headline Noche UFC – which goes down on Sept. 13 in San Antonio. It was quite the odyssey to get to this booking, as UFC offered him a plethora of names, including newcomer Aaron Pico.
"I knew I was going to fight at Noche UFC no matter what happened in my last fight, I was going to fight there," Lopes explained. "After I lost the title fight and everything that happened with UFC changing the event to a Fight Night, they offered me, well before that, they had offered me a fight against Aaron Pico. I said no problem. Two days later, I get offered Jean Silva and I said no problem, we accepted. Two more weeks passed after they change the event to a Fight Night ad they said you vs. Yair in the main event of Noche UFC. Again, I accepted, no problem. Then UFC goes to work on the fight, and they come around again offering me Jean Silva. Jean Silva for Noche UFC? No problem.
"In the position that I'm in, I don't have options. My option is to fight against the guys below me, and what a better way to show I'm deserving of my position and I deserve being considered to fight again for the title by beating the guy who has the most hype right now. Exactly what I went through is what he's going through right now. I went up a lot in level, I exceeded expectations, beat a guy in the top 5 and went on to fight for the title. I think it's the same trajectory the UFC is doing for him. Unfortunately, he has to fight me and I want to prove my arrival was no strike of luck."
Although the Rodriguez fight couldn't come together, Lopes does hope to get paired against him in the future. As seen in the UFC 314 pre-fight press conference, there's plenty of bad blood between the two and unsettled business that stems from an alleged altercation between Lopes and Rodriguez's friend, former UFC fighter Marco Beltran, at a regional Mexican event years ago.
"I hope so, I hope that in the future the fight happens," Lopes said. "If I win on September 13 and the UFC does the winner of Movsar Evloev vs. Aaron Pico against Volkanovski, and he's there, then I will ask for that fight again."
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