Few fighters have experienced a rise to stardom as rapid as UFC featherweight Diego Lopes.
The Brazilian first caught the eye of the masses in May of 2023, when he accepted a short notice opportunity against No. 6 ranked Movsar Evloev in his UFC debut. While Evloev got the nod on the judges’ scorecards, Lopes gave Evloev a far tougher test than he expected from a promotional debutant. The fight earned Lopes his first $50,000 bonus with Fight of the Night honors.
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He carried that momentum into his next fight against Gavin Tucker just three months later.