Diego Lopes has said he is willing to have a rematch with Movsar Evloev, but only if his demands are met.
Evloev had been expected to fight Aljamain Sterling next at UFC 307 on October 5th, but with his opponent out injured he’s been calling out Lopes to step in as his replacement on short-notice.
However, having only just beaten Brian Ortega a couple of weeks ago, Lopes has ruled out that short-notice possibility and made it clear he wants his conditions to be met before he’ll accept a fight with him in the future.
“The only possibility this fight happens is if the UFC really says, ‘OK, you fight him and win, and you’re next for the belt,’” Lopes told mmafighting.com.
“That’s the only way this fight happens at the moment, and I want a full camp. It’s very easy for him to call me out knowing I just fought two weeks ago.
“I’ve been calling him out several times to fight with a full camp, and he never wanted it. The possibility of me accepting this fight now or fight him on short notice is zero.”
Lopes previously fought Evloev in May of last year after being drafted in as a last-minute replacement at UFC 288, and despite the odds being stacked against him he shocked everyone by giving the undefeated Russian his toughest fight to date, though in the end he lost out by unanimous decision.
Lopes has stayed very active since however, going on a five-fight winning streak that’s taken him to No.3 in the featherweight rankings, leaving him situated three places above Evloev.
Lopes’ demands seem reasonable given their past history and current standing in the division, so it looks like Evloev will have to look elsewhere if he wants to remain on the UFC 307 card.
Meanwhile, Lopes has suggested that he’d like to fight current No.1 contender and former divisional kingpin Alexander Volkanovski next instead – a match-up that would certainly set him up for a shot at the title.
“we’d like the possibility of fighting [Alexander] Volkanovski in December,” Lopes said. “He doesn’t like to wait, and neither do I, so that could be a good fight. A lot can happen, but I think the two most viable options for us right now are being the backup fighter in Abu Dhabi [for the Topuria vs. Holloway title fight in late October], or fighting Volkanovski in December.
“The UFC is aware that I’m available for [UFC 308], so it depends on what they want to do.”
