Diego Lopes wants a rematch against the man who gave him his first UFC defeat – but just not yet.
Lopes had one of the wildest UFC debuts in recent years. He made his first promotional appearance with almost no time to prepare, taking a fight against undefeated featherweight contender Movsar Evloev at UFC 288 in May with just three days notice. Although Lopes lost a decision that night, he went the distance with one of the world’s best, came close to submitting him a few times, and entertained an entire arena, winning a $50,000 bonus for Fight of the Night.
Lopes (22-6 MMA, 1-1 UFC) followed up the loss to Evloev with a quick submission win over veteran Gavin Tucker earlier this month at UFC on ESPN 50. Now with a win in his pocket and his career back on track, Lopes is hoping he crosses paths with Evloev in the future.
“Of course that’s the objective – to get that rematch,” Lopes told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “I’m not saying for my next fight or the one after that. I hope that it’s way down the line once I’m in the top 10, top five or who knows – maybe even for the title since many see Evloev as a strong candidate for the title, and I want to get there. I want to improve and show my evolution in my game (against him).”
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Lopes won’t go as far as saying he would’ve beat Evloev with a full camp to prepare, but he does think his performance would’ve been much better.
“I think things could’ve been different because I would’ve had specific submissions for him,” Lopes said. “I would’ve studied his fights, I would’ve trained better, and worked on certain adjustments, and that happened with Gavin Tucker. He defended well at first, but I made adjustments little by little until I got the submission.
“Against Evloev, if I would’ve had more time – and I don’t mean a whole training camp, but two or three weeks more – I think I could’ve done something much better. It was an incredible fight. I know people were very excited, and that’s how I made myself known. I can’t tell you I would’ve beat him with a complete training camp, that’s to be known in the future if I run into him again. That’s my objective, and we can get our answer then.”
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