Diego Lopes walked into the Noche UFC main event as the underdog, but he walked out with a jaw-dropping finish, after he uncorked a spinning back elbow that led to a second round finish over highly touted featherweight contender Jean Silva.
It was a wild fight for as long as it lasted with Lopes nearly delivering a finish in the opening round but then being forced to weather a heavy storm coming at him from Silva in the second. Just when it looked like Silva was starting to gain some real momentum, Lopes unleashed the spinning back elbow, and the Brazilian just dropped face first to the canvas.
With blood pouring from his head, Silva tried to survive but Lopes was relentless with punches and referee Mike Beltran had no choice but to stop the fight and prevent further harm. An irate Silva wasn’t happy with the stoppage, but he was clearly absorbing a lot of damage just before the fight came to an end at 4:48 in the second round.
“I tell you guys, Saturday night I’m going to show you guys, there’s levels,” Lopes said after his latest win. “I’m high level. I proved it tonight. I tried it backstage. I prepared for that. I knew that was the exact moment when I needed to do that.”
It was an incredibly impressive showing from Lopes, who had a barking Silva in his face all week long, but the silenced the Fighting Nerds featherweight with a dramatic finish to cap off the main event.
Prior to the finish, Lopes nearly put Silva away in the opening round after he grabbed onto a body lock and tossed his opponent to the canvas. Lopes wasted no time advancing to the mount as he began raining down elbows from the top as he busted open Silva while continuing to hammer away.
Lopes continued dishing out damage, and it appeared he might be nearing a finish, but Silva finally scrambled out of the bad position to get back to his feet. On the restart, Silva uncorked a front kick that stabbed Lopes directly in the face as the crowd roared in approval.
Despite a rough start, Silva showed confidence coming out in the second round as he continued throwing bombs from the outside with Lopes staying composed in his stance. With Lopes surging forward, Silva countered with a stiff straight right hand that blasted the former title challenger and put him on wobbly legs for a moment.
A slip on the feet allowed Lopes to get inside where he secured another takedown but this time Silva scrambled free in much quicker fashion.
That’s when Silva’s confidence started soaring as he clipped Lopes with some solid punches and he was pressing forward, looking for a potential knockout of his own. A split second later, Lopes threw the spinning back elbow and Silva’s night went from bad to worse in a hurry.
As much as Silva protested the stoppage, it was tough to argue with the finish after watching Lopes bloody him badly and then just batter him with punches on the ground. The win puts Lopes back on track after he came up short in his bid to become featherweight champion following a decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski in his previous outing.
There may not be many options available to him but Lopes appears willing to face whoever the UFC throws at him as he seeks another opportunity at becoming champion in the future.
“I’m ready for the next opponent,” Lopes said. “If the UFC thinks I needs one more fight, I’ll take one more fight. Give me the next guy.”
