Diego Lopes is a star at 145 kilos.

Final Combating Championship’s (UFC) Featherweight division has seen a fluctuation of adjustments over the previous yr. Whether or not atop the mountain with the title now belonging to Ilia Topuria or names getting into the combo from different divisions, the division is freshening up with intrigue.

On the forefront of the brand new contender wave is Mexico’s Lopes, who has gained 4 consecutive fights since a hard-fought unanimous choice loss (25-6) in his promotional debut towards the undefeated 18-0 Movsar Evloev. Lopes, 29, has jockeyed for Evloev rematch within the span that’s adopted the preliminary encounter however believes he’s surpassed his rival after the wild unanimous choice victory he earned over Dan Ige at UFC 303 final month (June 29, 2024).

“I believe presently, what can I inform you, I believe we principally have a top-five struggle assured, so for the second, combating him just isn’t in my plans,” Lopes informed MMA Junkie. “If he simply occurs to be the final choice, Okay then we take it. No drawback. However from what we’ve mentioned with my staff and the UFC, we’re taking a look at a very completely different struggle.”

Regardless of solely simply battling by way of three rounds on unmatched quick discover, Lopes and Ige said after the struggle that they’d love to show round for fights at Noche UFC in The Sphere on September 14, 2024. In the meantime, Evloev had hoped to safe a title shot together with his most up-to-date win over Arnold Allen however has discovered himself within the crosshairs of Aljamain Sterling and Lopes.

Now neither needs something to do with the Russian.

“Now he’s saying that he needs to provide me the rematch in The Sphere and all that,” Lopes mentioned. “Now he needs it. He took three months to answer me once I was calling him out to struggle precisely on that Worldwide Struggle Week card, this final occasion.

“So now that he is aware of we’re in place, he is aware of a whole lot of good has come my method, now he needs to benefit from this second to name me out and say he’ll give me the rematch,” he continued. “We have now utterly completely different plans, and a rematch with him just isn’t in them. I believe with the whole lot that we’ve accomplished, I deserve one thing greater than a rematch with Movsar.

“Positively sooner or later, we’ll meet once more, however for the meantime, he ought to keep hidden within the mountains like he did for the final three months,” Lopes concluded.