Noche UFC: Diego Lopes full post-fight interview
UFC Fight Night 259 winner Diego Lopes talks to MMA Junkie and other reporters post-fight after his second-round TKO of Jean Silva at Noche UFC.
Mild-mannered Diego Lopes let the fists – and fingers – fly Saturday night.
In the UFC Fight Night 259 main event at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, Lopes (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) finished rival Jean Silva with a spinning back elbow and punches for a second-round TKO win. A heated build was not extinguished at the fight’s end as Lopes and Silva’s team mouthed off through the fence. Lopes hopped on the cage and flipped the double bird before Silva (16-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) shoved him in the back of the head.
Lopes was very apologetic as he spoke to media backstage approximately an hour later and explained why he made the gestures.
“This was his training partners,” Lopes said at a post-fight news conference. “Before I even entered in the octagon, the cutman was putting the Vaseline on my face. One of his corners was talking a lot like, ‘Oh, you’re going to die today. This guy will kill you.’ Sorry, guys. ‘You suck. This guy will knock you out.’ He talked a lot of words, you know? After this, it’s OK. It’s OK. After I finished the fight, I went to face the training partners. Sorry, I showed my fingers for these guys.”
As for the punch, Lopes indicated he just let it slide as he did not want to risk disciplinary action, such as the result of the bout being potentially tampered with.
“I’m surprised he did this, too,” Lopes said. “I felt the punch in the back of my head. I’m turning like, ‘Did Jean punch me in the back of my head?’ I didn’t understand why. It’s OK. This is maybe the emotion of this time, because the guy is a little bit angry because he lost the fight. But it’s OK. I feel good now. This is my moment. … I’m not going to pay that price for that victory.”
Lopes said he wasn’t surprised by anything Silva did or showed in the cage, but he did offer up some advice.
“Maybe train more,” Lopes said. “Talk less, train more.”
With the win, Lopes moves to 6-1 in his most recent seven outings and aligns himself within striking distance of UFC gold. With Alexander Volkanovski likely to face either Lerone Murphy or Movsar Evloev, Lopes will likely have to compete again – and he’s OK with that.
“UFC tells me I have to do one more fight. OK, I’ll take one more fight,” Lopes said. “It’s OK. I’m No. 2 in the rankings now. I don’t have a lot of options in my front. Maybe one more fight, or I don’t know. I take a great win tonight. I put my name on the table to fight for the title again.”
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