Diego Lopes hopes it’s second time lucky for his title aspirations at UFC 325.
The Brazilian featherweight was granted a controversial opportunity to exact his revenge on Alexander Volkanovski early this 12 months despite the presence of two undefeated contenders who’ve yet to face the champion.
Lopes was beaten by Volkanovski at UFC 314 last April, with a choice victory putting ‘Alexander the Great’ back on the throne for his second reign at 145 kilos.
The defeated 31-year-old required a sole win over Jean Silva at Noche UFC to be worthy of a rematch within the promotion’s eyes, and that can happen in Sydney on January 31.
And Lopes has arrived Down Under off the back of a much smoother training camp…
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Who wins when Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes rematch?
Diego Lopes secured a personal gym for his UFC 325 camp after ‘distractions’
Despite being often known as arguably essentially the most exciting fighter within the division, Lopes is probably going aware that a second loss to Volkanovski will push him down the pecking order and dent his title hopes.
With that in mind, he has done all the pieces he can to spice up his probabilities of victory at UFC 325, and that included a brand new training environment.
“After I fought Volk in April, I had a bit of little bit of ego,” Lopes told Fox Sports Australia.
“I believed I didn’t must fix anything in my training, I believed all the pieces was good, But after the fight, I saw many things weren’t good in my training camp.
“After this fight, I fixed many things… I got a personal gym for less than me and my team to (avoid) distractions. No people coming to the gym asking for a lot of things, for photos, for videos,” he added.
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Diego Lopes blamed Alexander Volkanovski’s corner for his UFC 314 loss
It was not only distractions in his training camp that Lopes believes hampered his efforts in Miami last April.
In the course of the same interview, Lopes pointed to Volkanovski’s corner as a pivotal a part of his first fight against the Australian.
“For the primary fight, I didn’t feel confident for the takedown,” Lopes said. “I didn’t feel confidence because he moved thoroughly and his game plan was perfect.
“I remember I listened to the Volkanovski corner, each time he stayed in front of me, the blokes say, ‘Game plan, game plan,’ and he began going back to the sport plan.
“Whole credit to Volkanovski, he did an awesome job,” he added.
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