Some say cardio is king in MMA, and that’s why some fans are siding with Alexander Volkanovski to beat Diego Lopes of their upcoming UFC title fight.
Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) and Lopes (26-6 MMA, 5-1 UFC) meet next month within the major event of UFC 314. in Miami, Fla. They’ll be competing for the vacant UFC featherweight title, which was left behind by Ilia Topuria moving as much as lightweight.
Lopes, who’s on a five-fight winning streak since losing his UFC debut, has quickly turn out to be a star within the division. But though respected by many, some remain skeptical of his probabilities of winning the title – especially after watching him lose steam in his decision win over Dan Ige at UFC 303 last summer.
“I believe (Volkanovski) might go in there and look to do a combination of his game because a whole lot of individuals are still complaining that I won’t have cardio for five rounds,” Lopes told Habelmos MMA in Spanish. “Persons are still hanging on to what happened within the fight against Dan Ige, that I slowed down. But that’s OK. People have mouths, and so they’ll say whatever they need. I’m ready for Volkanovski’s best version, and I’m ready to indicate my best version.”
Lopes was originally scheduled to fight Brian Ortega on short notice at UFC 303. In a bizzare sequence of events, Ortega ended up withdrawing from the bout attributable to illness the day of the fight, and Ige stepped in on hours notice to fight Lopes at a catch weight of 160 kilos.
The Brazilian says he was affected by the short notice, and in addition by fighting 15 kilos over what he originally agreed to. Lopes feels he redeemed himself the next fight by going the space and dominating Ortega at UFC 306 – which is why he couldn’t care less what critics need to say.
“That’s okay. I’m not bothered y them in any respect,” Lopes explained. “People have mouths, and they’re going to say whatever they need, and so they don’t need to see things in the way in which that they’re.
“Why does no one mention the knockdowns I did to Brian Ortega within the third round and the way I used to be doing in that third round? I won all three rounds and I dominated that fight. Why do people don’t mention that? Why don’t they mention that a judge gave me a 30-26?
“I don’t get it. People forget things. People have short memories. They only want to recollect what they need to recollect, and that’s effective. I. get it. Loads of those individuals are fans of those fighters. I’m fighting, so they may go ahead and say I lack cardio to fight them.”
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