The tables have actually turned. At least that’s how Diego Lopes sees his continuous fight with fellow UFC competitor Movsar Evloev.

Lopes, who lost to Evloev in his short-notice UFC launching back in 2023, had actually long been requesting a rematch with the Russian fighter. However, there was little attention or mind to the callout by Evloev. Now, a year later on, Lopes remains in a far more various position and discovers himself getting called out by Evloev – something he doesn’t wish to captivate for the time being.

“I think at this time, what can I tell you, I think we basically have a top-five fight guaranteed, so for the moment, fighting him is not in my plans,” Lopes informed mixed martial arts Junkie in Spanish. “If he just happens to be the last option, OK, then we take it – no problem. But from what we’ve discussed with my team and the UFC, we’re looking at a completely different fight.”

Lopes is coming off a unanimous choice win over Dan Ige in a battle he accepted on 4 hours’ notification in among the wildest minutes in modern-day UFC history. This success topped a 4-0 run that’s turned Lopes into a competitor at 145 pounds and among the most cherished fighters in the promo.

Lopes (25-6 MIXED MARTIAL ARTS, 4-1 UFC) discovers it amusing how the vibrant with Evloev (18-0 MIXED MARTIAL ARTS, 8-0 UFC) altered so considerably.

“Now he’s saying that he wants to give me the rematch in the Sphere and all that. Now he wants it,” Lopes stated. “He took 3 months to react to me when I was calling him out to battle precisely on that International Fight Week card, this last occasion.

“So now that he knows we’re in a good position, he knows a lot of good has come my way, now he wants to take advantage of this moment to call me out and say he’ll give me the rematch. We have completely different plans, and a rematch with him is not in them. I think with everything that we’ve done, I deserve something bigger than a rematch with Movsar.”

This is not to state that Lopes won’t battle Evloev ultimately. Lopes is targeting a return on Noche UFC at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14 versus Brian Ortega or Alexander Volkanovski for the time being, however he’s not sure of what the future will bring beyond that.

“Definitely in the future we’ll meet again, but for the meantime he should stay hidden in the mountains like he did for the last three months,” Lopes stated.