Diego Lopes has put himself in position to make the kind of waves that could rearrange coastlines in the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division.
The Francisco Grasso protégé will take aim at two-time title challenger Brian Ortega in a compelling UFC 306 attraction this Saturday at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Lopes enters the cage on the strength of a four-fight winning streak. He last competed at UFC 303, where he laid claim to a three-round unanimous decision over Dan Ige—a short-notice fill-in for Ortega—on June 29. The longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt now holds a 4-1 record in the UFC, a unanimous decision defeat to former M-1 Global champion Movsar Evloev his only misstep.