Diego Lopes receives big opportunities in the UFC for a reason.
Lopes (28-8 MMA, 7-3 UFC) challenges BMF champion Charles Oliveira (37-11 MMA, 25-11 UFC) in the UFC 335 main event on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+).
When Lopes informed the UFC of his intentions to move up to lightweight, he was not short of matchups – all of which he said yes to.
"These guys know I'm open for every fight," Lopes told MMA Junkie Radio. "I'm happy to take a fight with everyone in the weight class, but when I talked to the UFC about wanting to move to 155 to take a fun fight, UFC showed me the options. They said, 'We'd love you to fight for the BMF one day with Charles.' This was back in July. At the end of July, I had a meeting with Hunter and
the first talk was fight Charles Oliveira for BMF.
"But Charles was supposed to fight with Arman in Los Angeles. When Charles was meant to fight Arman, the first option for me was Dan Hooker in Paris for the main event. ... Next day, UFC called me and said, 'No, we signed Salahdine Parnasse, so he's going to take the main event with Dan Hooker.' The UFC said if Charles doesn't accept the fight, we want you to fight BSD (Saint Denis) in New York. I said, 'OK, I love this fight, too. I'm down.'"
When Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan didn't pan out, Lopes called the UFC to revisit the Oliveira matchup, which ended up materializing. Lopes failed to become UFC champion at featherweight but has big plans for lightweight.
"I missed two times for the title in my weight class," Lopes said. "I missed two times to be the best guy in the world. Maybe I'm not the best guy in the world, but now I have a chance to prove I'm the best motherf*cker in the world. After I win this fight, I'm sure I have a lot of different options, too, in my new weight class for maybe the future I fight for the belt or take a couple of fun fights at 155."
Lopes lost twice to UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski but recently finished top contender Jean Silva and the streaking Steve Garcia at UFC Freedom 250. So, would he ever consider a move back down?
"I think it depends," Lopes said. "Now my goal is to go to 155, make a great job, feel your body, feel your power, feel your speed, feel everything because all guys in '55 have been fighting their whole lives at '55. This is my first fight at '55. I hope I feel very well. I hope I can do different things, too, and I want to stay at 155. But, if I have a chance to come back to 145 to fight for the No. 1 contender or the belt again, I'll come back to 145. Of course, I need more time for this because my body changed, but my focus now is 155."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Diego Lopes reveals winding road to getting UFC 335 BMF title fight
