Jean Silva is convinced that Diego Lopes is in for a rough night when they meet in the octagon at Noche UFC in September. Interestingly, ‘Lord’ harbors genuine bad blood toward his opponent despite having no clear reason why.
Discussing how the matchup came about, Silva asserted that numerous fighters refused to fight him while coming up in the ranks. As the Brazilian sees it, even Lopes’ manager was not keen on matching up his client against him.
During an interview with MMA Junkie, Silva elaborated through an interpreter:
“I understand that for Diego’s manager, fighting me is not something he was going to go for, but then Diego just went online and made some statements about the fact [that] he would fight me over the weekend if he could. So basically, Diego was doing matchmaking, and basically signed on his coffin already. So, screw that. That’s it. He signed on it. If that’s where he wants to be, I’ll just put some dirt on that coffin.”
There has been some back-and-forth between the fighters in the lead-up to the fight. Interestingly, however, ‘Lord’ doesn’t have a definite reason for going off on his opponent, other than the fact that Lopes rubs him the wrong way.
During the segment, Silva delivered a stark warning to his opponent, saying:
“It’s no secret to anyone that I don’t like the person that he is, just like Bryce Mitchell. I’m not a fan of Diego… You know, when you have a relative? In Brazil, we say, ‘Our saints don’t match.’… So basically, you know when there’s a relative of yours, every time you see them, this doesn’t go well. I just don’t like this person. We don’t match… But you can’t beat them up… We’re in a line of business where if our auras don’t match, we can actually beat the hell out of each other… So, I get to beat him up.”
Check out Jean Silva’s comments on Diego Lopes below:
Jean Silva sees beating Diego Lopes as a crucial part of his path to being crowned a UFC champion. Silva wants to create history by becoming the first Brazilian to capture the featherweight crown since the legendary Jose Aldo.
If he can get through the former title challenger with a dominant finish, that could very well put him next in line for a crack at champion Alexander Volkanovski. During the same interview, ‘Lord’ opened up about his title dreams, saying:
“I do believe that I’ll have all the credentials necessary to fight for the title. Even Volkanovski has said in a couple interviews that he does expect me to win and actually face me for the title towards the end of the year. So, guys, by the end of the year, in December, this division, after 10 years since Jose Aldo, we’re going to have a new Brazilian 145-pound UFC champion.”
