Daniel Cormier thinks Diego Lopes separated himself from the featherweight pack at UFC Fight Night 259.
Lopes (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) finished Jean Silva by Round 2 TKO in Saturday’s Noche UFC headliner at Frost Bank Arena in San Antonio, Texas.
Silva (16-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) was in the running for a title shot with a win, but Lopes handed him his first octagon loss. With Lopes fresh off a title loss to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 314, he may not get a rematch, but Cormier says the 30-year-old showed he’s levels above the rest of the contenders.
“Diego Lopes is the real deal, man,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “We always knew he was good, but tonight showed that he is on a different level than most guys, so we should not take too much from the fight against Volkanovski. He goes in the fighter meeting, ‘I learned a lot. I know I lost,’ and nobody wants to lose, but what do you do with the information you gain whenever you lose?
“He said that he gained a ton from that fight with Volkanovski, and it showed. He dealt with some adversity. He got hit with a couple of right hands where I thought this dude’s about to go down, but he didn’t go down. Not only did he win, he won impressively. Diego Lopes is nothing to play with in the UFC and establishes himself once again as one of the top contenders at 145 pounds.”
Lopes was able to dominate Silva on the ground in Round 1, then catch him with a spinning back elbow in Round 2.
“That dude just had what may have been his greatest performance ever,” Cormier said of Lopes. “He was in there with a young, hungry guy – a guy who had not tasted defeat, a guy who truly believed that he was just going to outclass him, and that was not the case. Diego Lopes went out there, did his thing early, got a takedown, was able to control Jean Silva – something we have not seen Jean Silva deal with over the course of his UFC career.
“Jean Silva survived, and then fought well coming back at Diego Lopes. It’s not like Jean Silva just rolled over. Diego Lopes had a game, tough guy in front of him, and he made the best of what he could do. The striking in this fight was amazing, the willingness to stand and trade was amazing, and the finish was amazing.”
