Diego Lopes picked up the biggest win of his career thus far, knocking out Sodiq Yusuff in the first round of their featherweight bout at UFC 300 on Saturday.
Since making his promotional debut back in 2023, Diego Lopes has become a fan favorite because of his wildly exciting fight style.
Sodiq Yusuff was looking to bounce back from a loss to Edson Barboza last time out in what was his first UFC main event.
The Brazilian came in hunting for the $300,000 post-fight bonus – after Dana White announced he was increasing the bonuses for the monumental event – and wasted no time in doing so.
Diego Lopes scores an emphatic first-round finish over Sodiq Yusuff
Coming into the bout, Lopes was unranked at featherweight, with Yusuff occupying rank 13 in the division.
The 29-year-old closed the distance early and pulled ‘Super’ Sodiq into clinch exchanges. From there, Lopes landed multiple punches, dropping Yusuff with a sharp, short elbow. Yusuff made it back to his feet not long after but was caught by another uppercut that sunk him to the ground again.
The Brazilian followed him down to the ground where he got on the back of the 30-year-old and reigned down some heavy ground and pound.
The referee stepped in and Lopes made it three wins in a row.
Lopes calls out Movsar Evloev for a rematch
After picking up wins over Gavin Tucker and Pat Sabatini, this seemed like a fair step up for Lopes. Despite that, he made extremely easy work of Yusuff.
Lopes’ UFC debut last year came at late notice, as he accepted a short notice fight against the undefeated, Movsar Evloev.
The gritty performance he put on is one of the reasons he quickly became a fan’s favorite. Following his monumental UFC 300 win, Lopes called for a rematch with the Russian.
“This was a very important fight for me, I know Sodiq was a very tough fighter. Things are setting up the way I want, this was another one, I know my next step and I’m going to be a champion.
“Movsar (Evloev) is next at International Fight Week, if he doesn’t want to fight with me then I’ll go to Spain for Ilia Topuria.” Lopes said.
Ilia Topuria‘s first title defense is unclear at this moment, with there being no clear contender. Dana White admitted at the UFC 300 press conference on Thursday that they were still looking at hosting an event in Spain this year, but the lack of arenas is proving an issue.
Alexander Volkanovski may be in line for an immediate rematch following his impressive featherweight reign, meaning Lopes’ desire for a rematch with Evloev could end up making a lot of sense.
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