Deigo Lopes continued his impressive surge through the 145lbs division with an astonishing win against Sodiq Yusuff at UFC 300.
Since signing with the UFC last year, the 29 year old has made the walk four times, amassing an impressive 3-1 promotional record.
The Brazilian made light work of the resilient Yusuff in their 135lbs bout, needing just shy of 90 seconds to secure the finish.
With less than a minute on the clock, Lopes landed a short sharp right uppercut which sent Yusuf crashing to the mat. The ferocious Featherweight then followed up with a flurry of punches but Yusuff called upon his in cage experience to slow the fight, slightly and get back to his feet.
However, the two were only back on their feet for a matter of seconds before Lopes once again found home for his right uppercut on the chin of Yusuff and once again sent the Nigerian to the mat. Landing in full mount, the Brazilian reigned down strikes, forcing his opponent to give up his back and just a few strikes later, the referee had seen enough and called an end to proceedings.
Although riding a three fight win streak, Lopes' promotional debut did not go to plan. When he first made the walk to the octagon, the prospect faced the unbeaten Movsar Evloev, who beat the Brazilian by way of unanimous decision. With his UFC 300 win, Lopes has likely secured his spot in the rankings and is keen on running it back with the, now, number 5 ranked Evloev.
Speaking to the media post fight, Lopes first reflected on what was undoubtedly the biggest win of his career thus far, he said:
"I am feeling incredible. I think the work that I have put in is amazing, the work my team has put in is amazing. There is a team behind us and they are doing a great job and actually getting a win at UFC 300, against an opponent line Soqid, I just feel very good."
The right uppercut proved to be a pivotal shot throughout the fight but as Lopes explained, it was just a shot that he is a fan of and not something he had specifically trained for Yusuff.
"That is a strike that I like to use, we train that uppercut and I try to put it in fights. I think a lot of fighters don't use it because it exposes you a little bit as you are actually going for the strike, but if you look back at some of my previous fights you will see that it's there. It is something that is our strategy and we are really happy that it worked."
When talked turned to wanting to face Evleov rematch, Lopes made his intentions very clear.
"I think that the first fight speaks for itself and I think that the fights that came after that say I deserve a rematch against Mosvar."
The unbeaten Russian recently faced Arnold Allen, walking away with a unanimous decision win. discussing the contest, Lopes appeared unimpressed with the performance.
"I think it is actually really funny that he went on social media and said that my greatest feat to have a fight against him and I went back to him and said well your greatest feat is to make Dana White like a fight you were involved in, it was just the one I was involved in. I like to call him decision man, I even coined the term Mr Decision, which I think his work speaks for himself and my work speaks for myself."
Watch his in cage post fight interview below:
