Diego Lopes has no regrets over his UFC 325 loss to Alexander Volkanovski.
Lopes was rematching for Volkanovski at the end of January for a rematch for the featherweight belt. In the rematch, Lopes was outclassed again, as Volkanovski cruised to a lopsided win.
Over a month since the loss, Lopes opened up on the defeat and admitted he’s at peace with it.
“I’m good. I’m at peace with myself,” Lopes told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. “We had to lose one more time in another title, but what can you do? You have to continue with life. It’s not the end of the world.”
Although Lopes lost again, he felt like he gave his best and had the best game plan he could, which is why he’s not losing sleep over the loss, as he doesn’t think there’s anything else he could have done.
“I did a bit of everything,” Lopes said. “People talked after the last fight, saying I didn’t go for takedowns. I did take him down this time, but I didn’t do anything big with it. His defense was really good. He stood up quickly and defended well the back, and the submission. ‘Oh, you didn’t kick.’ I kicked a ton – so much I destroyed my feet kicking. Unfortunately, there’s not much to say. I did more than the first fight. He was just simply better than me that night.”
Diego Lopes doesn’t understand UFC 325 criticism
Even though Diego Lopes is at peace with the loss, he said he’s gotten plenty of comments questioning why he lost.
Lopes doesn’t understand that crtisicm as he knows how elite Volkanovski is at fighting
“We truly made the adjustments we needed to make,” Lopes said. “We did a really good job. If you really focus in on the fight, and look at the stats, in terms of strikes landed, we landed the same ammount. I think I even threw two more than him. It was 169 to 168. Round after round, the difference between us was a strike or two, max five strikes. In Round 5, we did the most scrambles and he took an advantage there. But the reality is that we did everything that was in reach. Simply that we just need to accept and admit that Volkanovski is an intelligent motherf*cker when it comes to fighting.
“What am I going to do or what do I have to complain? He beat me twice. There’s not much to say. I just have to give him the credit. I felt we did give a more competitive fight than the first, even though some people don’t see it that way. I felt it was more competitive. I was able to take him down. I locked in a submission. I defended takedowns, submissions. I cut the angle when he was moving left. I kicked him. I did everything and it wasn’t enough. I just have to give him credit.”
With the loss to Volkanovski, Lopes fell to 27-8 as a pro. He has now hinted at potentially moving up to lightweight.
Were you surprised Diego Lopes lost to Alexander Volkanovski?