Diego Lopes is not happy he came up short in his second attempt at his dream of winning a UFC championship belt. However, amid the disappointment, Lopes is at peace.
At UFC 325 in January, Lopes (27-8 MMA, 6-3 UFC) had a rematch with all-time great featherweight Alexander Volkanovski in Australia. Lopes lost a unanimous decision to Volkanovski in April 2025. Ten months didn’t make much of a difference in the result, and Lopes again dropped a unanimous decision.
“I’m good. I’m at peace with myself,” Lopes told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. “We had to lose one more time in another title, but what can you do? You have to continue with life. It’s not the end of the world.”
The Brazilian, who resides in Mexico, was heavily criticized within the MMA community for his strategy in the rematch, having lost less than a year prior. However, Lopes does feel he changed things up significantly, and he’s confident he gave his best effort.
“I did a bit of everything,” Lopes said. “People talked after the last fight, saying I didn’t go for takedowns. I did take him down this time, but I didn’t do anything big with it. His defense was really good. He stood up quickly and defended well the back, and the submission. ‘Oh, you didn’t kick.’ I kicked a ton – so much I destroyed my feet kicking. Unfortunately, there’s not much to say. I did more than the first fight. He was just simply better than me that night.”
Lopes doesn’t understand why people have criticized his performance. He thinks people forget he’s not only fighting a UFC champion, but arguably the greatest featherweight in the history of MMA.
“People forget, but I’m not fighting a sack of potatoes,” Lopes said. “I’m not fighting someone who’s going to let me do whatever I want. I don’t get the criticism of the people. It’s easy to talk when you’re on the outside, but being in there and fighting is a different thing. I thought that I could beat him, too, but it ended up being not as easy as expected. People are always going to criticize one way or another.”
Even though some people might not be, the 31-year-old is proud of his performance and his team’s work in the lead-up to the event.
“We truly made the adjustments we needed to make,” Lopes said. “We did a really good job. If you really focus in on the fight, and look at the stats, in terms of strikes landed, we landed the same ammount. I think I even threw two more than him. It was 169 to 168. Round after round, the difference between us was a strike or two, max five strikes. In Round 5, we did the most scrambles and he took an advantage there. But the reality is that we did everything that was in reach. Simply that we just need to accept and admit that Volkanovski is an intelligent motherf*cker when it comes to fighting.
“What am I going to do or what do I have to complain? He beat me twice. There’s not much to say. I just have to give him the credit. I felt we did give a more competitive fight than the first, even though some people don’t see it that way. I felt it was more competitive. I was able to take him down. I locked in a submission. I defended takedowns, submissions. I cut the angle when he was moving left. I kicked him. I did everything and it wasn’t enough. I just have to give him credit.”
