San Antonio — Diego Lopes has some advice for Noche UFC opponent Jean Silva, who he stopped care of a spinning back elbow in Saturday’s main event featherweight fight.
“Maybe train more. Talk less, train more,” Lopes (27-7) told media outlets including Cageside Press, following the event at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, TX.
What was a match-up between fellow Brazilians to top a card celebrating Mexican independence became something of a grudge match, and Lopes endured both a punch after the bell, and taunting from Silva’s corners prior to the fight.
The punch took many by surprise, including Lopes. “It’s like, I’m surprised he did it too. I feel the punch the back of my head. I turned around, like he elbowed me in the back of my head?”
“I don’t understand, for why? But it’s okay. This is maybe the emotion. Because this guy is a little bit hungry because he lost the fight,” added Lopes. “But it’s okay, I feel good now. This is my moment. The people know I’m not going to pay the price for my victory.”
After the win, Lopes scaled the octagon wall and flipped the bird to someone, or someones, at cageside. “This is [his] training partners,” Lopes explained. “Before I enter the octagon, the cutman put the Vaseline in my face. His partners, his corners were talking a lot, like ‘oh you die today, this guy will kill you, you suck, this guy will knock you out.’ Talking a lot of bad words.”
“Sorry I showed my fingers for these guys,” the usually good-natured Lopes apologized.
With the win, Lopes has bounced back from a title fight loss earlier this year against Alexander Volkanovski. There’s a question of whether he might face Yair Rodriguez or Movsar Evloev next; Diego Lopes feels it might not be either – he could be looking at another title shot.
“I don’t know. Now I think after my performance tonight, it puts my name back on the table. Maybe now the UFC changes their plans. I don’t know. I [said] this week, I need a big knockout for the UFC to put my name in the hat next for the title,” noted Lopes. “Now the top five is a little bit mixed. A little bit mixed. But the people know me, I love fighting. I love fighting. The UFC tells me ‘okay you need one more fight,’ okay, send me one more fight. It’s okay.”
Watch the full Noche UFC post-fight press conference with Diego Lopes above.
