Ahead of his UFC 314 title fight, Diego Lopes has his hands full with foe, Alexander Volkanovski. But he also believes he can tame one of nature’s biggest apex predators to boot in a clash.
Lopes, a native of Manaus, looks to become the first Brazilian since counterpart, Jose Aldo, to lift featherweight spoils this weekend bu putting his stunning 5-fight win streak on the line.
But it makes no difference to Lopes’ confidence. In fact, in his opinion, having spotted several jaguars in his native Amazonas, he believes he could tame the vicious beast. And in rather easy fashion to boot.
Speaking with Nina Marie-Daniele this week, Lopes envisioned a grappling-heavy matchup with a jaguar. Namely, this would involve him either assuming wrist control and locking up a triangle from the bottom.
When asked what he would do should the animal lunge at him. Lopes reminded Nina of a video they shot some time ago and said, “I put my foot on his ribs and make him fly!”
Thankfully, Volkanivski will have the use of opposable thumbs, unlike the Jaguar, and will be able to counter Lopes’ Jiu-jitsu. Volk continues to be a mainstay in the 145 lbs division and is one of their most brutal and well-rounded fighters.
His two-fight skid can primarily be attributed to the quality of his last two opponents- Islam Makhachev and Topuria. Islam himself is on a 14-fight win streak, and Topuria is yet to lose in pro MMA.
To underestimate him based on those two losses would be a mistake that Lopes won’t be making, especially since he’s dealing with a chunk of the fans who don’t believe he should be fighting for the title.
Many believe Movsar Evloev, having already defeated Lopes at UFC 288, should have gotten a crack at UFC gold first. Interestingly, Lopes has promised to defend the title against Evloev should he defeat Volk over the weekend.
In the meantime, he’s also been happy to start a public feud with Yair Rodriguez.
Lopes and Yair share tense UFC 314 presser moment
Bitter rivals for some time now, former interim titleholder Rodriguez and UFC 314 headliner Lopes flapped gums to no end tonight. Appearing on stage for a pre-fight press conference, the duo embarked on a lengthy verbal tirade at each other.
As per reporter Rodrigo Del Campo Gonzalez, the issue stems from a personal feud between the duo.
“Yair (Rodriguez) is accusing Diego (Lopes) and his team of beating up former UFC fighter and Yair’s friend Marco Beltrán,” Gonzalez tweeted tonight. “Diego then accuses Yair of threatening a female teammate of his and that he’ll pay for it,” he said.
Yair is accusing Diego and his team of beating up former UFC fighter and Yair’s friend Marco Beltrán. Diego the accuses Yair of threatening a female teammate of his and that he’ll pay for it. See next tweet for more context: https://t.co/Ctc8axkEYf
— Rodrigo Del Campo González (@RodDelCampo) April 10, 2025
Eventually corralled by security, enough wasn’t enough, however. Prior to their respective face-offs with other opponents, no less, the duo continued to jar at each other with officials close by.
