Mexico City Showdown: Diego Lopes to Battle Heavy Hitter Josh Emmett in UFC Headliner
A featherweight headliner between Diego Lopes vs. Josh Emmett is in the works for the UFC’s return to Mexico City in 2025.
Per a report from Australian reporter Benny P on X, Lopes will look to land his sixth-straight win inside the Octagon when he meets Emmett on March 29.
Originally, it looked like Lopes was being lined up for an interim featherweight title fight with ex-champion Alexander Volkanovski. That no longer appeared to be the case after Volkanovski revealed his next fight would be a rematch with 145-pound titleholder Ilia Topuria.
Lopes last stepped inside the Octagon against former title challenger Brian Ortega at UFC 306 in September. Lopes earned a unanimous decision victory, moving him to 5-1 under the UFC banner — his lone loss coming in his promotional debut against Movsar Evloev in May 2023.
Josh Emmett heads to Mexico city after scoring a brutal KO against Bryce Mitchell last year
Expected to meet Lopes inside Arena CDMX is Josh Emmett who will be making his 15th walk to the Octagon and carrying a solid 10-4 record on MMA’s biggest stage. It’s been more than a year since ‘CC0’ scored a horrifyingly brutal first-round KO against Bryce Mitchell at UFC 296 in December 2023.
Emmett is 2-2 in his last four, dropping back-to-back bouts against Yair Rodriguez and Ilia Topuria before bouncing back with his win over ‘Thug Nasty.’ Before that, Emmett was on a five-fight win streak with wins against the likes of Shane Burgos, Dan Ige, and Calvin Kattar.
