Diego Lopes claims UFC set to prevent two weight champions without vacating titles
Ahead of his return at UFC 314, incoming title challenger, Diego Lopes has claimed the promotion have informed current champions that they will no longer be able to attempt to become two-weight titleholders, without previously vacating their gold in their current weight class.
Lopes, the current number three ranked featherweight champion, is set to headline UFC 314 in April, competing for vacant title spoils in a high-stakes main event fight with ex-gold holder, Alexander Volkanovski in just his seventh Octagon start.
Awarded the opportunity to take on the New South Wales favorite for the featherweight title, Lopes and the former will compete for spoils now vacated by the unbeaten, Ilia Topuria — who is hellbent on a move to the lightweight limit to take on the incumbent, Islam Makhachev — potentially as soon as UFC 317 in June.
Diego Lopes claims UFC will prevent two-weight champions going forward
However, according to Brazilian-born favorite, Lopes, the UFC has now informed current reigning champions that the days of two-weight titleholders held simultaneously are over — with hopefuls instructed they must first vacate their own championships before a divisional leap.
It was very clear to us that they wouldn’t be giving people a chance to play in different categories,” Diego Lopes told ESPN during a recent interview. “If you want to go up in the category, you have to lose your title slowly. That’s what the UFC has said to all the champions who are thinking about going up in the category.
They won’t give us the status of double champion simultaneously,” Diego Lopes continued. “If it’s going to be double champion, it’s only going to be a two-category champion. It’s up to everyone’s decision. If they feel like they have nothing to do in the division, they can go ahead with their career. I know that in the division we have very good fighters who could give very good fights against him. We could even put him in serious trouble and even win.”
Himself most recently landing his sixth straight victory in the promotion, Lopes landed himself in the top-3 of the division with a one-sided unanimous decision win over former title challenger, Brian Ortega on the main card of Noche UFC back in September of last year.
