For Yair Rodriguez, it’s not a matter of if he fights Diego Lopes, it’s a matter of when.
Things have been heating up between the top UFC featherweights for years now, their rivalry reaching a new climax at the UFC 314 press conference on Thursday.
Booked to fight different opponents with Lopes challenging Alexander Volkanovski for the title and Yair Rodriguez getting Patricio Pitbull, Lopes was asked if about the chances of a Rodriguez fight at Noche UFC 3 in Guadalajara, Mexico to which Lopes dismissed the Mexican by mentioning his two-fight losing skid.
Rodriguez was furious, confronting Lopes and his team for allegedly jumping his teammate Marco Beltran. Lopes had submitted the former UFC fighter in a Mexican title fight in 2019. Security intervened at the press conference and held the fighters back.
At UFC 314 on Saturday, Rodriguez would get his hand raised against Pitbull, the former Bellator two-division champion. Lopes wasn’t so lucky, defeated by Volkanovski over the distance in his first UFC title opportunity.
Yair Rodriguez cuts Diego Lopes rain check for Alex Volkanovski
Despite the loss for Lopes, fans are still chomping at the bit to see him to settle the score with ‘El Pantera’ later this year at Noche UFC 3.
While Lopes is definitely a name on his hit-list, as a top contender coming off a win, Rodriguez’s focused on title contention for now – another fight with Alexander Volkanovski, who he lost to less than two years ago by TKO at UFC 290.
“In the eyes of the fans, of course [it’s a big fight],” Rodriguez said of a potential fight with Lopes at the UFC 314 post-fight press conference.
“But if you ask me, if you’re in my position right now, the beef can stay aside for now.
“The only thing that I’m looking for right now is fighting for that belt…
“I think when the moment comes, we’ll talk more about that,” Rodriguez said of Lopes. “But for now, going to focus on that title fight, which is fighting against the current champ, Alexander Volkanovski in a rematch. I wanna do that in Guadalajara.”
Yair Rodriguez on why Diego Lopes grudge match has to happen
Lopes argued against another title shot for Rodriguez just days ago. Prior to Pitbull, the former interim champion had two losses in a row to Volkanovski and Brian Ortega, who Lopes dominated last September.
Both fighters in the featherweight top-5 and unfinished business left between them, Rodriguez is confident he shares the Octagon with Lopes in the future.
“It will have to happen at some point,” Rodriguez said of fighting Lopes.
“I actually talked to my friend Marco Beltran, and I told him, I got you, bro… I got this one for you. I was like, I’ll make sure whenever I have the chance to fight him, I’ll make sure I got it for you.”
Rodriguez reveals why he went after Lopes at the press conference after being formerly cordial with the Brazilian fighter.
“[In the past] we were able to take pictures together. I was able to play it cool for as long as I could to keep it cool,” Rodriguez explained.
“But the guy was trying to be disrespectful in the in the press conference, trying to say how many losses does he have?
“Kinda attacking me like that. I was like, you know what? That’s it. I’m not able to f****** take it anymore…”
