Diego Lopes claims he’s never turned down a fight from the UFC and he doesn’t plan on starting now.
The #2 UFC featherweight contender is fresh off his first title fight at UFC 314 in April. Brazil’s Lopes took on one of the greatest featherweights of all time in Alexander Volkanovski across five rounds.
Despite a great effort to KO Volkanovski, Lopes was outpointed by a durable Volkanovski to a unanimous decision defeat.
Two months after the title fight loss, Lopes is already looking forward to his return, one he thought he’d have against his heated rival Yair Rodriguez at this year’s Noche UFC on Sep. 13.
However, it takes two to tango, and Lopes says Rodriguez declined a fight with him.
According to Lopes, ‘El Pantera’ wasn’t the only fight he said yes to.
Diego Lopes says he accepted fights with Aaron Pico, Jean Silva and Yair Rodriguez
On Monday, Lopes confirmed Rodriguez was one of three opponents he accepted.
The others were ‘Fighting Nerds’ star Jean Silva and Bellator standout Aaron Pico.
“Let’s get to the facts,” Lopes wrote on ‘X’ (translated from Spanish).
“After the fight against Volk, the UFC contacted me asking how I was doing. I told them all the recommendations the doctors had given me. I said I’d be ready to fight in September.
“They offered Aaron Pico, I said yes.
“2 days later they offered me Jean Silva, I said yes.
“When UFC moves Noche UFC to San Antonio, I said yes to Yair Rodriguez.
Lopes says he was also open to a fight with Lerone Murphy or a rematch with Movsar Evloev.
“If you have any doubts, ask Dana [White], Hunter [Campbell] or Sean [Shelby] if I have ever denied a fight. The day I refuse a fight, it has to be because of a very serious health issue or because I’m truly unable to fight. My career was built on accepting fights; I have 32 professional fights, not for nothing.”
Yair Rodriguez claims he didn’t reject Diego Lopes in video response
In a response to Lopes, Rodriguez confirmed the UFC approached him about fighting Lopes.
“The p—- Diego Lopes is saying I don’t want to fight him, that’s not the case,” Rodriguez said on Instagram.
“When I had the opportunity to fight Diego [at UFC Mexico City], he said no because I was coming off a loss.
“Now that he’s coming off a loss, he wants to fight me,” Rodriguez said of Lopes.
“That doesn’t make sense to me.”
Rodriguez says he’s currently injured and added a fight with Lopes does nothing for his career as Lopes is coming off of a loss. However, Rodriguez says he’d be happy to fight Lopes in the future.
It’s worth noting there are rumors of Rodriguez fighting for a UFC title against Alexander Volkanovski in his next fight.