UFC fighter Diego Lopes strongly believes in his opponent’s strength and doesn’t subscribe to the idea that his best days are behind him.
Due to Ilia Topuria’s exit as the UFC featherweight champion, the title is now up for grabs. and matchup between Diego Lopes and former champion Alexander Volkanovski has been set. The bout will headline UFC 314, and many are eager to see this clash. However, some wonder if “The Great” is past his prime after suffering knockout losses in his last two bouts.
In an interview with Danny Segura, Lopes discussed his confidence in Volkanovski’s skills as a fighter and expressed his belief that Volkanovski is in peak condition for the bout.
“I think it’s a wrong opinion held by some people,” Diego told *Hablemos MMA* in Spanish. “A lot of people are forgetting what Volkanovski has accomplished in the division. Yes, we’re talking about him getting knocked out by Ilia, and that certainly takes something away, but if we look at the fight outside of that, he was having the better moments with his distance, his jabs, and all that. He’s a guy who has only one loss in the division, and that was in his last fight, which was a title fight. So, throughout his entire career—he’s got almost 30 fights—he only has one loss at 145 pounds.”
“I’m by no means looking at him as past his prime because he has a ton of experience, has fought against the best in the world, and we all know what he’s capable of. I’m expecting the best version of Volkanovski on April 12.”
Lopes is currently riding a five-fight winning streak. He scored the biggest victory of his pro-MMA career in September 2024, defeating Brian Ortega via unanimous decision. The Lobo Gym MMA standout is now hoping to secure UFC gold for the first time in his career.
