Diego Lopes says ‘it doesn’t make sense’ to fight Aljamain Sterling now, awaits opponent for UFC 306

Diego Lopes wants to re-book his fight with Brian Ortega.

The rising featherweight sensation agreed to a short-notice bout with the two-time title challenger for UFC 303 in late June after the card lost Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler, but saw the matchup move up a weight class and then change altogether when Dan Ige stepped in on hours’ notice as his new opponent.

Lopes won a decision that night and he’s adamant that Ortega should be his next UFC foe. For that reason, Lopes has decided to dismiss callouts from former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and his former opponent Movsar Evloev.

“It doesn’t make sense now,” Lopes told Canal Encarada when asked about possibly facing Sterling next. “We were going to fight the No. 3 in the world, then we fought the No. 13 and went up two positions. The UFC has basically guaranteed me a fight with a top-five [opponent] now so Aljamain Sterling makes no sense, and neither does a rematch with Movsar.”

Lopes had a close fight with Evloev on short notice in his UFC debut, and has since gone on a tear with four UFC wins and three post-fight bonuses. Evloev has only fought once since his win over Lopes, capturing a decision over Arnold Allen, while Sterling is 1-0 in his return to 145 pounds with a three-round win opposite Calvin Kattar earlier this year.

“They know I’m in a good spot right now,” Lopes said. “They know I was going to fight the No. 3 in the world and I’m kicking down the door for a title fight, so they want the buzz for themselves. It makes no sense for them to call me out since they’re ranked higher than me. It makes no sense, but they know I’m generating a lot [of buzz] with fans and the UFC.”

Lopes said he was informed by UFC that he will be part of the UFC 306 pay-per-view at the Sphere on Sept. 14, but still needs to nail down his dance partner. However, Lopes added that facing Ortega is more important to him than being on the Sphere card. Ortega has mentioned his desire to move to lightweight full-time going forward, and Lopes would be down to face Ortega at 155 pounds “if his [featherweight ranking position] is on the line.”

“Since it appears that [Max] Holloway and [Ilia] Topuria will fight, I would like to fight Ortega because he has fought for the title twice and he has a ton of experience against the best of the division,” Lopes said. “A good fight and a good win over him would definitely put me next to a title fight.”