Diego Lopez is unhappy that he failed to realize his dream of winning a UFC championship belt for the second time. Yet amid the disappointment, Lopez remained calm.
Lopez (27-8 MMA, 6-3 UFC) got a rematch against all-time featherweight great Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 325 in Australia in January. In April 2025, Lopez lost to Volkanovski in a unanimous decision. Ten months didn’t have much of an impact on the outcome, and Lopez was once again defeated via unanimous decision.
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“I’m fine. I’m at peace with myself,” Lopez told Hablemos MMA in Spanish. “We have to lose again in another championship, but what can you do? You have to get on with life. It’s not the end of the world.”
The Brazilian, who lives in Mexico, has been heavily criticized within the MMA community for his tactics in the rematch since he lost the fight less than a year ago. Lopez does feel like he made a difference, however, and he believes he did his best.
“I did a little bit of everything,” Lopez said. “After the last fight, people were talking about how I didn’t knock him out. I did knock him out this time, but I didn’t do anything big. He defended really well. He got up quick, defended well, back and submission. ‘Oh, you didn’t kick.’ I kicked a lot — so many, I broke my foot. Unfortunately, there’s not much to say. I did more than I did in the first fight. He was just better than me that night.”
Lopez doesn’t understand why people are criticizing his performance. He thinks people forget that he’s not only fighting a UFC champion, but arguably the greatest featherweight in MMA history.
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“People will forget, but I’m not going to fight a bag of potatoes,” Lopez said. “I’m not going to fight a guy who lets me do whatever I want. I’m not going to be criticized by people. It’s easy to talk when you’re on the outside, but it’s another thing to fight on the inside. I thought I could beat him too, but it didn’t end up being as easy as expected. People are always going to criticize one way or another.”
While some may think otherwise, the 31-year-old is proud of his performance and the work his team has done in the build-up to the tournament.
“We definitely made the necessary adjustments,” Lopez said. “We did really well. If you really focus on the fight and look at the stats, as far as the number of hits, we hit the same amount. I think I even took two more shots than he did. It was 169 to 168. Round to round, the difference between us was one or two hits, up to five hits. In the fifth round, we had the most fights and he had the advantage there. But the reality is we did everything we could. Simply put, we just have to accept and admit that Volkanovski is a smart ass when it comes to fighting.
“What do I do, or what do I complain about? He beat me twice. There’s not much to say. I just have to give him the credit. I feel like we were definitely more competitive than the first time, even though some people didn’t think so. I feel like it was more competitive. I was able to knock him out. I locked in the submission. I defended the submission, the submission. When he went left, I cut off the angle. I kicked him. I did everything and it didn’t work out. I just have to trust him that’s enough.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Diego Lopes calm about UFC 325 loss: ‘I tried everything I could’
